British novelist Salman Rushdie on Sunday waded into the US presidential vote "fiasco" debate by expressing his surprise that so little comment had been made about the links between Republican presidential candidate George W. Bush and his brother, Jeb Bush.
Jeb is governor of the state of Florida, where local officials said early Sunday they wanted to recount by hand all votes in one county of the state after the original, automated count failed to reveal a clear winner between his brother George and the Democratic candidate, Al Gore.
"Those of us with experience of elections in the third World can't help wondering why more people in the United States don't mention that all this is happening in a state governed by the brother of the fiasco's principal beneficiary," Rushdie said in the Independent on Sunday newspaper.
"Even CNN (television) speaks of an 'odour' hanging over the Florida election," Rushdie added.
"Stories continue to emerge of black voters intimidated by policemen, of polling stations remaining closed so that people were denied the chance to vote at all and would-be voters being told that the ballots had run out."
"But even if there hasn't been any hanky-panky, the bizarre Florida episode shows why, on the whole, direct elections feel cleaner than indirect ones," Rushdie said -- LONDON (AFP)
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