LAGOS, Dec 15 (AFP) - The way US President-elect George W. Bush won his
election has tarnished US standing in the world and his victory is a worry
for
Africa, Nigerian newspapers said Friday.
   In an editorial headlined "Tainted American presidency", the newspaper
The
Comet noted the sharp racial divide in the US polls where 90 percent of
black
voters voted for Bush's opponent, Vice President Al Gore.
   "It is obvious to people in this part of the world that something was
wrong
with the conduct of the election in Florida where Jeb Bush, the
president-elect's brother, is the governor," The Comet said.
   Bush is widely believed to have even less interest in Africa than most
previous US presidents. The incumbent president, Bill Clinton, has however
visited the continent twice, including a stop in Nigeria in August.
   "We are worried that Mr. Bush may consign Africa into irrelevance and
absolute marginalisation ... We only hope he will be weaned from his
apparent
isolationism," the Comet said.
   The paper said Bush's Republican Party was itself "racist" and would have
to change to win elections in future.
   "The Republican Party must change and cast away its racist and bigoted
tradition of favouring only the whites and the super-rich," the newspaper
said.
   The election itself was severely flawed, the paper said.
   "America no longer occupies the moral high ground in the democratic
world... The man with fewer votes will become president in the most powerful
democratic country in the world. The partisanship of the United States'
Supreme Court was just too obvious," it said.
   "Would it not have been better if the votes were counted so as to give
legitimacy and authenticity to whoever won?"
   However, the paper still praised the peaceful way the dispute had ended,
praising Gore's "patriotism" and "sagacity" and saying "there is a lesson in
this for Africa where democratic struggle usually turns into armed
struggle."
   The newspaper The Guardian said the election had shown the world
different
sides of the United States.
   "The election and its resolution has thrown up the best and the worst of
American democracy. The role played out by the Supreme Court has turned out
to
be the deciding factor," the newspaper said.
   "Americans may respect the judgement of their courts but not many are
convinced that Mr. Bush has won fairly and convincingly," it added.
   Bush "must work hard to heal the wounds that the election created," the
paper went on.
   Nigeria itself returned to civilian rule in May last year after elections
widely viewed as severely flawed.
   The Clinton administration last year named Nigeria as one of its four
priority countries making the transition to democracy.
   pcj/kc

_________________________________________________________________________
Get Your Private, Free E-mail from MSN Hotmail at http://www.hotmail.com.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------

To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L
Web interface at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
You may also send subscription requests to [log in to unmask]
if you have problems accessing the web interface and remember to write your full name and e-mail address.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------