concede

In politics, a concession is the act of a losing candidate publicly yielding to a winning candidate after an election, when the overall result of the vote has become clear. Concession, per se, is entirely optional, and a candidate will sometimes refuse to concede defeat despite the vote count being against them, especially if they suspect electoral fraud. In that case the candidate would likely demand a recount of the votes or other investigations into the alleged fraud. Sometimes concession may be denied not because of any specific fraud allegations, but simply because of ill will accumulated over the campaign.