London - World reaction to the bizarre course of the American election ranged from bemusement to contempt on Wednesday, with one commentator calling the American electoral system "idiotic".
Even with 99,9 percent of the votes counted from Tuesday's balloting, no clear winner had emerged between the Democratic candidate, Al Gore, and his Republican challenger, George W Bush. Bush's apparent victory was put on ice for at least another day-and-a-half, pending a recount in Florida.
World leaders who had rushed to congratulate Bush were forced to row back as Gore's hopes remained alive. The Dutch even officially retracted their congratulations.
Other quirky features of the closest American election in decades included the dead man who won a senate seat and the pensioners who mistakenly voted for the wrong candidate - in Florida - because they found the ballot slips too complicated.
| 'How Bush was the next president for 84 minutes' |
"What is happening in the United States?" asked Nabil Ramlawi, director of the Palestinian authority's permanent mission to the United Nations in Geneva.
"Usually the other parts of the world are accused when this happens in their country, but today we see it in the United States."
The bafflement was widespread.
"I'd certainly like to be the first from this despatch box to congratulate the president-elect - whoever he turns out to be," Britain's Northern Ireland secretary, Peter Mandelson, said in parliament to laughter on Wednesday.
He was speaking as London's Evening Standard newspaper was demonstrating the dilemma faced by many media organisations on the streets outside.
"Bush Wins," screamed the front-page headline as office workers popped out for lunch on Wednesday. But later versions were headlined "Recount" while a story inside was entitled "How Bush was the next president for 84 minutes".
"The leadership of the western world was today hanging on a few hundred votes - and the result might not be known for 10 days," the Standard added, after cataloguing an "extraordinary night".
Confusion outside the United States was also widespread on the arcane workings of the electoral college, the body that actually chooses the next president and that had earlier seemed set to go with Bush - despite Gore having won more of the popular vote.
"They have an idiotic system of government invented 200 years ago," said analyst Christoph Bertram, head of Germany's Research Institute for International Affairs.
"Why should it work?" he asked in an interview last week. "You may have a situation where the candidate who wins in the electoral college may not win the popular vote - it is an extraordinary political system not to be emulated by anyone."
Another critic was Sweden's Prime Minister Goran Persson.
"I'm a bit confused, but unlike some people I've not sent a telegram of congratulations then had to withdraw it," he said.
"If Bush wins he will be president in an election where his opponent got more votes. I think that is going to lead to a debate about the constitution," said Persson, a Social Democrat who has made no secret of his preference for Gore.
Still, at least the furore failed to perturb at least one corner of the world.
In the Central African Republic, few people turned up to watch the results come in at the United States embassy - despite the offer of a free breakfast.
"All that is a very long way away," said Raphael Kopessoua, publication director of the Vouma weekly newspaper. "I wonder if Al Gore or George Bush could point to the Central African Republic on a map." - Reuters
|
StumbleUpon
Reddit
Digg
Delicious
Newsvine
Facebook
muti
Twitter
