Republican Mitt Romney has endorsed one-time rival John McCain as the US Republican nominee. Mr Romney dropped out of the presidential race a week ago.
'I am honoured today to give my full support to Senator McCain's candidacy,' Mr Romney told a news conference with Mr McCain at his side.
The former Massachusetts governor also asked the 291 delegates pledged to vote for him to switch allegiance to Mr McCain at the September Republican Party nominating convention. This would put Mr McCain less than 80 delegates short of the nomination.
Mr Romney and Mr McCain had tangled bitterly during the campaign as they fought for their party's nomination and Mr Romney, a former governor of Massachusetts, attracted many of the party's conservative base to his side.
After a string of losses Mr Romney dropped out of the race last Thursday saying it would be best to unify the party to prepare for a tough general election battle against either of the two Democrats, Barack Obama or Hillary Clinton.
