Republican candidate Donald Trump threw pre-poll predictions to the winds, as he emerged as surprise winner in the bitterly fought US elections.

At the time of writing, Trump had won 276 electoral votes, breaching the magical figure of 270 to win presidency, while Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton was trailing at 218. There are a total of 538 electoral votes.

The 2016 election, which had bitterly divided the entire nation, was initially very tight. Trump did better than expected in several key swing states and he consistently built up a lead. Clinton cut the lead towards the end, but it was too little, too late.

Donald Trump will replace Democratic Party’s Barack Obama, who governed USA since 2009.

Trump has always been a controversial character, who famously proclaimed he would temporarily ban Muslims from entering USA. His policy decisions will be keenly followed by GCC states as America has a strong presence in those countries.

USA has strong military presence in Qatar, Kuwait, UAE, Oman and Bahrain. The US had withdrawn a majority of their troops from Saudi Arabia in 2003.

Here's what people in Qatar have been saying:

What are your thoughts about the US Election 2016 results?