Middle East keeps close eye on US election

The US elections are front page news in almost every newspaper in the Middle East.

One satellite station is urging Arab viewers to phone in their votes for US President George Bush or Senator John Kerry. Kuwait television plans live coverage overnight until official results are in.

No matter the medium, the message was the same: The result of today’s presidential election will greatly impact the Middle East - and the region is paying close attention.

While Middle East governments officially brush off the impact the outcome will have on relations with Washington, many Arabs have been frustrated and angered by what they view as Mr Bush’s misguided Middle East policy and military aggression in Iraq.

“Arabs and Muslims are looking forward to the election results. Maybe if Kerry wins, then there will be some hope to resolve the issues of Iraq and Palestine,” said an editorial in Jordan’s pro-government Al Rai newspaper. Mr Bush is widely viewed in the Arab world as unflinchingly pro-Israel.

Ali Okla Ersan, head of the Arab Journalists’ Union in Syria, said Arabs are closely following the US elections because “they are directly affected by their results due to the US occupation of Iraq and its repercussions on neighbouring countries” as well as the Arab-Israeli conflict.

“We hope that the next US president would take a balanced and objective stand toward our basic issues, especially in Palestine,” he said.

In Lebanon, Joseph Samaha, editor-in-chief of the leftist daily As-Safir, wrote that international relations for the foreseeable future will be affected by Americans’ decision today “and the Middle East is at the heart of this equation”.

It is regrettable, he wrote, that the elections “will decide the fate of people who cannot vote in it”.

The Arab satellite network Al-Arabiya – promoting its coverage with the slogan “George Bush or John Kerry ? The result will affect us all” – was giving its viewers a chance to pretend.

Voting began an hour before the first polls opened on the east coast of the US. Two hours into the poll, Mr Bush had the early lead: 53% to 47% for Mr Kerry.

Television stations across the region planned special coverage of the race.

State-owned Kuwait Television was to air a live programme, The Road to the White House, overnight until results are announced, featuring reports from the US and analyst comment.

Some Jordanians in the capital, Amman, said they planned to stay up all night to watch election coverage.

Jordanian pharmacist Salma Eissa said she prefers a Kerry win because the Democrats “don’t use war to solve the world’s problems”.

Mohammad al-Fakhoury, 32, owner of a mobile phone shop in Amman, said he was sure Mr Bush would win, though he hoped for a Kerry victory.

“I think there can’t be anyone worse than Bush,” he said. “He is a war-man. … If Bush stays as president, he will surely destroy Syria and Iran.”

Syria’s official media said today it did not make a difference who won the elections.

“Bush and Kerry are the same, as they turn facts upside down,” said the English-language Syria Times newspaper in a leading article. “Arabs want fairness, whether it is Bush or Kerry who wins the elections.”

In Iran, where the head of the Security Council last week endorsed Mr Bush, President Mohammad Khatami said he has no preference.

“But we hope, they, whether Bush or Kerry, will move logically and justly to meet the interests of the American people and in line with non-interference in the internal affairs of other countries, détente and establishment of peace based on justice,” he said.

One Arab country where the Republican ticket remains strong and the President’s father is a hero is Kuwait, a US ally freed by US-led forces under the first President Bush after Saddam Hussein invaded in 1990.

“In Kuwait, we have love and respect for the Bushes because they moved the world to liberate Kuwait from its occupier the toppled Saddam Hussein,” wrote a columnist for Al-Anba daily. “That is why we hope that Bush wins … we owe him and his father.”