United Nations observers will not monitor the US
presidential election, despite a request by some Democratic lawmakers
who fear a repeat of the disputed 2000 Florida vote, according to UN
officials. Thirteen Democrats in the US House of Representatives had
asked the world body to send an observer mission to safeguard the
rights of American voters in the November 2 election. They cited the
Florida recount battle four years ago ultimately decided by the US
Supreme Court. Republican George W Bush won the state by 537
votes, giving him the White House. "We are deeply concerned that the
right of US citizens to vote in free and fair elections is again in
jeopardy," the lawmakers wrote UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan last
week. The United Nations said it could not act on a plea from
legislators. "The policy and practice is that the United Nations
responds to requests made by national governments and not the
legislative branch," UN spokeswoman Marie Okabe said. Observation
missions must also be approved by the 191-nation UN General Assembly,
of which the United States is a member, as such monitoring could
otherwise intrude on a country's sovereignty, Ms Okabe told reporters.
The Democratic lawmakers wanted to avoid "the nightmare and the
humiliation that many voters suffered at the ballot box and the voting
machine during the 2000 election," said Representative Eddie Bernice
Johnson, a Democrat from Mr Bush's home state of Texas. In 2000,
suspected tallying errors and charges that some blacks were deprived of
their right to vote led to calls for recounts in various Florida
counties. The recount process was ended by a Supreme Court decision.
-- Reuters
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