Canada’s Toronto Globe and Mail
More than an hour after networks declared Mr. Bush the victor, and after newspapers went to press with front pages declaring a new president-elect, things went a little crazy. And it calls into question the frantic competition for ratings on election night, when the networks strive to make quick calls. But what happens when three mistakes are made, and the whole election is in the balance? … In Canada, the law says the media cannot report results in a region where citizens are still voting, partly because of fears that people can be influenced.
Singapore’s Business Times
After an extraordinary day of high political drama, the world … still did not know who the next president of the United States will be–the fate of the world’s most powerful office lay in the hands of a handful of overseas voters from Florida. And even if a recount early this morning declares either Republican George W. Bush or Democrat Vice President Al Gore the winner, voters had already signaled–both by their ballots for the presidency as well as in races for the Senate and House of Representatives–that they wanted no revolution in policy or in the direction the country is headed.
Indonesia’s Jakarta Post
Watching the dramatic twist of events, one could not but give a thumbs up to the democratic process maturely adhered to by the American people…. This signified how influential and powerful the United States is in the eyes of the world community…. As a fledgling democracy, Indonesia could learn much from Wednesday’s U.S. election and from the political maturity the American people displayed in adhering to their democratic principles. No matter how much the contending candidates criticize each other and no matter how enthusiastic their supporters are, once the winner of the contest has been declared, the supporters–be they Democrats or Republicans–will stand firmly behind the victor as a united nation and support their elected president.
Britain’s The Guardian
That’s the thing about America: it never lets you down. As if directed by a divine scriptwriter, whose life’s work is to produce a thriller with impossible twists and implausible turns, the U.S. remains the story to beat all stories….What the current paralysis may do is force Americans to take notice at last of the fictitious, archaic body they have barely looked at for more than a century. That debate, on the phantom college which chooses their leaders, was already underway yesterday morning. Over the next few weeks it may become a matter of urgency.
France’s Le Monde
Good weather or foul for American democracy? The question is flowing through the commentaries being made the day following election night when people thought in turn that the 43rd president of the Union was the Democrat Albert Gore then the Republican George Bush. In other words, should one draw pessimistic conclusions from the astonishing electoral suspense of the Bush-Gore duel? The health certificate of the greatest democracy in the world includes, unquestionably, some serious black marks. During the last campaign, the unfolding of the election process has amply confirmed those defects. But, in the end, one can willingly share the opinion expressed Thursday by the Washington Post, [which stated that] during the campaign the public learned a good deal about the programs and the personalities of the candidates, even if they have to pay the price of having to wait two more days and having their nerves frazzled during a recount of the votes. It is only and precisely because each one of those votes count. That is called democracy–it is, in the words of the Washington Post, “imperfect,” but it has been working for two hundred years–and not too badly.
Italy’s La Repubblica
In a tense atmosphere not so much of a Superpower but of Super Banana Republic, there have been accusations of corruption, stories of sealed ballots that disappeared …, suspicions of dirty tricks and incompetence, and horrendous insinuations. Clinton’s heritage is a poisoned apple that Gore and Bush have to bite. No politicians, no journalists, no organizers who lived through the Halloween election night will never again fully trust the voodoo of the fake experts and of the “exit polls”–those polls abused by the media.
Germany’s Die Welt
The whole world is watching America and the incredible theater we’ve been witnessing since Tuesday. This is no cheap thriller, no soap opera, but a debacle … a giant empire with 280 million citizens sends its voters to the polls, and the candidates remain deadlocked in a way we don’t even see during elections in Uzbekistan or Switzerland.
