No ban on Florida recounts

The Supreme Court in the state of Florida has made a key ruling which could determine the outcome of the United States presidential election.

The court rejected a petition by the Florida secretary of state, Katherine Harris -- the official in charge of voting there -- to halt the manual recounts of votes taking place in several counties.

The BBC correspondent in Florida says the ruling clearly favours the Democratic party campaign of Vice-president Al Gore, which hopes to find more votes in his favour in areas where irregularities have been reported.

But our correspondent notes that the Republican candidate, George W Bush, has taken his petition to halt the recounts to a Federal appeals court, and the whole affair could end up at the United States Supreme Court.

Mr Bush currently has a lead of three hundred votes in Florida -- the decisive state. The counties that want further recounts have now given their reasons to Katherine Harris -- who's a Bush supporter; she will have to decide whether to include the results of recounts in Florida's final tally.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service