Even Cuba's Fidel Castro is lecturing Americans on democracy. He was heard telling American tourists bathing at a Cuban beach resort last week: "If you have problem with the elections, I'll send a team to sort it out. I have no faith in American democracy since hardly 40 per cent of the people vote there." Castro was retorting to commentators in Miami who'd declared: "We have a democracy, so we have problems in Florida. If you don't want all this post-election drama, go to the neighbouring country (Cuba). You will have no problems."
Sadly, a country which prides itself on being a role model for democracy, is now having to train the spotlight on the role of big money in influencing political parties, distorted coverage of elections by the media and the failure to provide an impartial count.
The US has any number of systems of casting and counting of ballots—from manual, semi-mechanical to fully automated. Guidelines and standards of counting ballots in case of disputes vary from state to state and no federal agency can adjudicate them. Which is why those adjudicating the cases are being branded partisan.
The centre of the controversy—Palm Beach County—has a three-member board, two of whom are Democrats. It was they who ordered the hand count of all the ballots in the county, despite the Republican's opposition. Florida's secretary of state, Katherine Harris, who will decide the issue, is a Republican and was a delegate in the party convention. The state's attorney-general is a leading light of the Democratic Party.
Expectedly then, the county has taken several days to decide on manual counting even though the state law provides for it. Harris, who's charged with hiring Republican lawyers to handle her legal brief, has rejected manual counting, though both the county court and the Florida Supreme Court have asked her to use her discretion before taking a final decision.
Charges have also been levelled against Florida Governor Jebb Bush, brother of the Republican George W. Bush. He's being accused of having used official machinery to campaign for his brother among the absentee voters settled abroad.
The most serious charge, however, was levelled against Miami federal judge Donald Middlebrooks, soon after he was listed to hear the Bush petition demanding a ban on all hand counting. The judge, said the media, was a Clinton appointee; he'd contributed funds to Clinton's 1992 and 1996 campaigns. How could he be objective? The criticism became shriller once he turned down Bush's petition.
Americans, it seems, are in for a long wait for their 43rd president. A wait that's prolonged with lawyers entering what's essentially electoral administrative mismanagement in Florida.
