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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 23 - 29 November 2000 Issue No.509 
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Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Al-Ahram Weekly On-line 23 - 29 November 2000 Issue No.509
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| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
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Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Focus Travel Living Sports Profile People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The Florida fiasco
By Mohamed Hakki
Present indecision aside, the lasting legacy of one of the United States' most unusual presidential elections will be the spotlight thrown on American democracy at work. The exercise so far has proved that democracy is one gigantic roll of the dice -- and right now, the croupier is the state of Florida's Supreme Court.
It is to this court that Vice President Al Gore's team has resorted to set out the rules for the rest of the seemingly endless US election. What hangs in the balance is the legitimacy of manual recounts, which have been demanded by the Gore campaign to settle the unnervingly small margin separating Al Gore from the US presidency. Bush, who now leads Gore by 930 votes, naturally wants the recount ended.
Republicans are now claiming that the procedure of manual counting lends itself to human error and even the possibility of fraud. The Democrats consider hand recounts not only lawful, but the only way to interpret the true "intent" of each voter. Democrats are hoping that if the recount continues, enough votes in heavily Democratic counties will be recovered to put the lead in Gore's hands.
The formation of Florida's Supreme Court is quite interesting. Six of the judges are registered Democrats appointed by Democratic governors. The seventh, an independent, was appointed jointly by the former Democratic governor and Republican Governor Jeb Bush. No one can predict how this court will rule, but most people believe that it will side with Gore.
Two things are already happening, and both promise to prolong the process and threaten its integrity. In counting the military personnel absentee ballots -- most of which went to Bush -- hundreds of votes are being challenged and actually disqualified on the basis of technicalities raised by the Gore team. More worrying are the irregularities happening in the hand counting process -- an inevitable consideration if you are counting over half a million ballots. There were instances of votes for Bush finding themselves in the Gore box and the rules suddenly changed in the middle of the count to permit easier tests for determining the intention of voters.
Most commentators are still maintaining that the system is working and the American people will rally behind the new president as soon as a winner is announced. Pundits are having a ball calling America a banana republic, but there are no military tanks around the White House or protesters battling the police. It is not a constitutional crisis -- on the contrary, it is the constitution that will be asked to save the day.
As the days go by, however, and the multiple litigation continues, it appears that for whoever finally gets himself into the White House, it will be the costliest victory in the history of America. Realistically, the tougher time would be had by Gore, as a possible conservative backlash that could cripple his presidency. Already, some prominent Republicans, including Senator Robert Dole, have mentioned the possibility of a boycott of the inauguration if Gore is elected.
Others are saying that whoever is elected will have to appoint a bipartisan cabinet and seek help from his opponent. The Kennedy-Nixon model is frequently mentioned during almost all discussions on the matter. The comparison is obvious: the close 1960 presidential election saw incidents of large-scale irregularities and fraud in Illinois and Texas. But that's where the similarity ends. Richard Nixon, who was a popular incumbent vice president, graciously -- and quickly -- conceded defeat to Kennedy. This time around, we are hearing some nasty tales -- the Gore team having students vote twice, giving cigarettes to homeless people to vote, busing thousands of workers to voting centres and so on.
Even the Middle East conflict has found its way into the fray. After the election was over, a Democratic lawyer in Israel urged expatriate Florida residents who hadn't mailed their absentee ballots by the 17 November deadline to go ahead and send them anyhow. Votes postmarked after election day are automatically invalid, but the claim is that Americans were warned to stay away from congested places to avoid terrorism -- and post offices can be congested. We know where these votes would have gone. Meanwhile, Arab Americans who are living in the West Bank never even received their absentee ballots. At over two thousand, their contribution could have been substantial.
If the Florida Supreme Court decision ultimately declares the manual recount illegal, it could be the fatal blow to Gore's chances of gaining the presidency. If the court stands by the recount, as it now seems likely, Gore could easily win enough votes to overturn the results. Is there still time for good judgement to prevail in these sad circumstances? A statewide recount means the manual counting of nearly six million votes. Several experts question whether this can be completed before the Electoral College meets in December.
The hidden culprit in this affair is the Electoral College and many have questioned the fairness of a system that allows the candidate with the most votes to lose. The US is virtually alone among industrial democracies to apply the electoral college system, but it is extremely unlikely that its use will ever be entirely scrapped. The often-invoked founding fathers felt that such a system not only preserves the rights of small states and states with small populations, but it also tempers the tyranny of the majority -- a consequence of standing by the popular vote. Who is on trial: the candidates, Florida balloting or the electoral college system itself? Any way you look at it, it still comes down to a roll of the dice.
Related stories:
Minorities close ranks- 16 - 22 November 2000
Democracy laid bare- 16 - 22 November 2000
See US Election 2000- 16 - 22 November 2000
Can you see a difference?- 2 - 8 November 2000
A voice crying in the wilderness- 24 - 30 August 2000
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