US election is a big farce

But, heavens, the ballot is in a mess today as the US election staggers on in search of a result.

Democracy in a country of such massive size is always going to be complicated. As well as having to collate votes across 50 states spanning different time zones, American democracy is characterised by a complicated electoral college. Voters do not choose the President, but instead vote for candidates to the electoral college. The candidate who finishes top collects all the state's votes in the college (apart from in Maine and Nebraska, where matters are handled differently) - and the college members then elect the president, traditionally following party lines.

In an election with a clear winner, these oddities tend to be over-looked. But this week the quirks have been thrown open for all the world to see. And what a show it's proving to be, more exciting than Broadway, harder to believe than Hollywood.

First of all, Republican George W Bush won and Democrat Al Gore sent his congratulations. Then it appeared too close to call and Gore withdrew his conciliatory words and said there was everything to play for.

As it stands, it could be days, weeks even, before America wakes up to find just who will be President. Everything hinges on Florida, where Bush originally 'won' by fewer than 1,800 votes out of six million cast. The re-count now going on has put the difference even lower, with unofficial reports cutting it to a knife-edge 229 votes.

As if this were not complicated enough, many Democrat supporters in Florida misunderstood the new ballot form and accidentally voted for the right-wing Pat Buchanan - and their mistaken allegiance might just have cost Al Gore the Presidency.

As the row grinds on, with talk of protracted legal action to settle just who has won, we can at least look forward to the new General Election in this country secure in the knowledge that it couldn't end up as such a farce; could it?