M A I N   N E W S

Court upholds Gore’s point
Setback to Bush, appeal likely

WASHINGTON, Nov 22 (IANS, Reuters) — The US Vice-President, Mr Al Gore, scored a major victory in his bid for the country’s presidency when the Florida Supreme Court ordered the inclusion of returns from manual recounts in the state’s final election results completed by November 26.

His Republican rival, the Texas Governor, Mr George W. Bush, had opposed the demand.

The court, in a unanimous 42-page ruling last night, reversed two previous trial court orders and affirmed the validity of the manual recounts. “The right of the people to cast their vote is the paramount concern overriding all others,” the court said.

It said that manual recount totals must be accepted by the Florida’s Secretary of State, Ms Katherine Harris. Harris, a Republican, wanted to declare Mr Bush the winner of Florida’s 25 electoral votes — and the White House — on November 18, ignoring the manual recount figures. Her insistence forced the Gore campaigners to approach the Florida Supreme Court.

According to observers, the Florida Supreme Court’s verdict has revived Mr Gore’s prospects of winning the White House, depending on his lead in the three Democratic-leaning counties, where manual recounts are now in progress. Mr Bush opposes these recounts, arguing they are subjective and unfair.

TALLAHASSEE, Fla: Mr Gore, barely restraining his delight, quickly hailed the ruling as a victory for democracy and offered to hold a conciliatory meeting with his Republican rival, Mr Bush.

But Bush lieutenant James Baker, a former secretary of state, attacked the court decision as “unfair and unacceptable’’ and promised the Republican campaign would study “remedies’’ but stopped short of announcing an actual appeal.

The ruling from the Democrat-dominated court paved the way for results to be accepted from manual recounts of 1.7 million votes from three heavily pro-Gore counties, a process the Gore campaign hopes could give the Vice-President victory in Florida and by extension the keys to the White House.

Mr Bush has a 930-vote lead after machine counts of the 6 million ballots cast in the state in the presidential election two weeks ago, and the Republican Secretary of State in Florida — Ms Katherine Harris, had wanted to certify him as victor on November 18.

But the Supreme Court blocked that plan, pending its consideration of the case this week.

The seven judges gave the three Florida counties — Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach — until Monday to submit final tallies.