World seeks lessons from US vote

The elections made headlines around the world

Countries whose commitment to democracy has been questioned by the United States have had a chance to gloat in recent days, as the American political system appeared paralysed by a handful of votes.

The Cuban newspaper Granma took the opportunity to describe Cuba's long-standing enemy as "a banana republic".

The huge $3bn figure for electoral expenses and electoral propaganda... itself discredits any form of democratic model

Granma, Cuban newspaper

The paper said it was no coincidence that the epicentre of the crisis was Florida - home to the Cuban-American "mafia" which had "carried out the kidnapping of Cuban child Elian Gonzalez".

"Leaving to one side the huge $3bn figure for electoral expenses and electoral propaganda, something that in itself discredits any form of democratic model and of a government of the people and for the people, the leaders of the US have no other alternative now but to repeat the elections in Florida to find out who the winner is and keep up the story that in that country there is something that looks like a democracy and that they are not what they contemptuously refer to as 'a banana republic'," an editorial in the paper argued.

Zimbabwe example

In Zimbabwe, government spokesman Jonathan Moyo suggested it was time the US could learn something from Africa.

"Maybe Africans and others should send observers to help Americans deal with their democracy," he told BBC Radio 4.

In Kenya, the government and the electoral commission should take a leaf from the willingness by which their trans-Atlantic counterparts reacted

Daily Nation

He also said it made no sense that Al Gore could win the popular vote without winning the presidency.

"We could not get away with something like that in Zimbabwe without the threat of sanctions," said Mr Moyo.

Russian humour

"The recount in the US may rid Russians of their last illusions about the fairness of the democratic form of rule," said the independent Russian paper Nesavisimaya Gazeta.

A joke going around Moscow says that Russia's chief election bureaucrat is being dispatched to Tallahassee to sort out the vote counting.

"Latest reports show Vladimir Putin in the lead," quipped the satirical website Anekdot.

And reports from Beijing describe how Chinese dignitaries invited to an election night buffet at the US Embassy to watch American democracy in action went home totally bewildered.

Mark of democracy?

Yet opposition commentators in developing countries interpreted the confusion as a sign of a functioning democracy.

Asian papers closely watched the workings of US democracy

"As a fledgling democracy, Indonesia could learn much from Wednesday's US election and from the political maturity the American people displayed in adhering to their democratic principles," the Jakarta Post wrote in an editorial typical of the opinions aired in Asian newspapers.

The Malaya newspaper in the Philippines said that if that country had ever a neck-and-neck finish like the one in Florida, prevailing vote counting practices would have favoured the candidate who controlled the area under dispute.

Lessons

From Africa, Kenya's Daily Nation said there were lessons to be learnt from the chaos of election night.

"The first is that the alacrity with which the US media announce results before rechecking is likely to cause confusion, rob the victor of his spoil, and vitiate what remains democratic in the system," a Daily Nation editorial said.

"Secondly, in Kenya, the government and the electoral commission should take a leaf from the willingness by which their trans-Atlantic counterparts reacted."