A group of 11 Republican senators and senators-elect on Saturday said that they intend to appeal the upcoming certification of the results of the presidential election.

The group, led by Texas Senator Ted Cruz, in a joint statement said that they will vote against the certification of electors from states where U.S. President Donald Trump has disputed Democrat Joe Biden’s win in the November election.

The 11 Republicans justified their plans by claiming that the election “featured unprecedented allegations of voter fraud, violations and lax enforcement of election law, and other voting irregularities.

“We intend to vote on January 6 to reject the electors from disputed states as not ‘regularly given’ and ‘lawfully certified’ (the statutory requisite), unless and until (an) emergency 10-day audit is completed,” they said in the statement.

In a separate action, Senator Josh Hawley had previously said he would join with some House Republicans to object to the certification of the election results.

The moves are expected to simply draw out the certification process.

Mr. Trump, with the support of many congressional Republicans, has been promoting unfounded claims that the election was rigged against him, but has provided no proof that swayed any court to his side.

His legal team has lost dozens of cases in the courts, and cases brought by his allies to the Supreme Court were also rejected.

The U.S. Electoral College has voted to confirm Mr. Biden as the next president, while some Republicans have also recently acknowledged the Democrat’s win after weeks of allowing Mr. Trump to spread false claims of widespread voter fraud.

Congress is mandated to certify the results on Wednesday before Biden is inaugurated on January 20. 

dpa/NAN