Florida icing on Obama cake

Four days after his re-election, US President Barack Obama has finally been declared winner in Florida, taking his tally of electoral college votes to 332.

Four days after the presidential elections on November 6, Florida State officials said Obama had a lead of about 74,000 votes and he had received 50% of the votes as against 49.1% of his Republican rival Mitt Romney.

With the important win in Florida, which has 29 Electoral College votes, Obama now has 332 votes in the Electoral College as against 206 of Romney.

The state's 67 counties had until noon today to finish their counts and report them to the secretary of state.

It's the 538-member Electoral College which elects the president of the United States.

A candidate needs a minimum of 270 votes to be elected as the president.

In the 2008 elections, Obama had won 365 Electoral College votes against 173 of John McCain, the Republican candidate.

Long queues and late absentee ballots were blamed for the delay in Florida's vote count, though Obama had won the election even without Florida.