World welcomes shift in Washington political landscape

US midterm election results that heralded a massive power shift in the American political landscape, capped by the resignation of Donald Rumsfeld, were widely greeted with jubilation around the world, with many expressing variations on the same sentiment: it’s about time.

From Paris to Pakistan, politicians, analysts and ordinary citizens said they hoped the Democratic takeover of at least one house of Congress would force US President George Bush to adopt a more conciliatory approach to the globe’s crises, and teach a president many see as a “cowboy” a lesson in humility.

But there were also fears that a power split and a lame-duck president might stall global trade talks or other initiatives where US cooperation is needed.

On Iraq, some worried that Democrats will force a too-rapid retreat, leaving that country and the region in chaos.

Others said they doubted the turnover in Congressional power would have a dramatic impact on Iraq policy any time soon, largely because the Democrats have yet to define the specifics of the course they want to take.

Regardless of the effect on world events, giddiness over an electoral black eye for US President George Bush, who is deeply unpopular outside the United States for his decision to invade Iraq, was almost palpable throughout Europe, the Middle East and Asia.

In an extraordinary joint statement, more than 200 Socialist members of the European Parliament hailed the American election results as “the beginning of the end of a six-year nightmare for the world, and gloated that they left the Bush administration “seriously weakened”.

In Paris, expatriates and French citizens alike packed the city’s main American haunts to watch results overnight and early today, with some standing to cheer or boo as vote tabulations came in.

One Frenchman, teacher Jean-Pierre Charpemtrat, 53, said it was about time US voters figured out what much of the rest of the world already knew.

“Americans are realising that you can’t found the politics of a country on patriotic passion and reflexes,” he said. “You can’t fool everybody all the time and I think that’s what Bush and his administration are learning today.”

Democrats swept to power in the House of Representatives yesterday and were threatening to take control of the Senate amid exit polls that showed widespread American discontent over Iraq, nationwide disgust at corruption in politics and low approval ratings for Bush.

Bush is deeply unpopular in many countries around the globe, with particularly intense opposition to the war in Iraq, the US holding facility at Guantanamo Bay and allegations of Washington-sanctioned interrogation methods that some equate with torture.

Many said they thought the big gains by Democrats signalled the beginning of the end of Bush’s reign. The next presidential election is in November 2008 and Bush is not eligible to run for re-election.

In Copenhagen, Jens Langfeldt, 35 said he didn’t know much about the midterm elections but was opposed to Bush, referring to the president as “that cowboy”.

In Sri Lanka, some said they hoped the rebuke would force Bush to abandon a unilateral approach to global issues.

“The Americans have made it clear that current American policy should change in dealing with the world, from a confrontational approach, to a more consensus-based and bridge-building approach,” said Jehan Perera, a political analyst.

The Democratic win means “there will be more control and restraint” over US foreign policy.

Passions were even higher in Pakistan, where Bush is deeply unpopular despite billions in aid and staunch support for President General Pervez Musharraf.

One opposition lawmaker, Hafiz Hussain Ahmed, said he welcomed the election result but was hoping for more. Bush “deserves to be removed, put on trial and given a Saddam-like death sentence”, he said.

But while the result clearly produced more jubilation than jitters around the world, there were also some deep concerns.

In Denmark, Prime Minister Anders Fogh Rasmussen told broadcaster TV2 he hoped the president and the new Congress would find “common ground on questions about Iraq and Afghanistan”.

“The world needs a vigorous USA,” Fogh Rasmussen said.

There was also some concern that Democrats, who have a reputation for being more protective of US jobs going overseas, will make it harder to achieve a global free trade accord.

In China, some feared the resurgence of the Democrats would increase tension over human rights and trade and labour issues. China’s surging economy has a massive trade surplus with the United States.

“The Democratic Party…will protect the interests of small and medium American enterprises and labour and that could produce an impact on China-US trade relations,” Zhang Guoqing of the state-run Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in a report on Sina.com, one of China’s most popular Internet portals.

The prospect of a sudden change in American foreign policy could also be troubling to US allies such as Britain, Japan and Australia, which have thrown their support behind the US-led invasion of Iraq.

Democrats campaigned on a platform that demanded a change of direction in Iraq, and the war has lost the support of the majority of American voters.

“The problem for Arabs now is an American withdrawal (from Iraq) could be a security disaster for the entire region,” said Mustafa Alani, an Iraqi analyst for the Gulf Research Center in Dubai.

He said the Middle East could be left to cope with a disintegrating Iraq mired in civil war, with refugees fleeing a failed state that could become an incubator for terrorism.

It was unclear, however, whether the American election would bring a major shift in Iraq, in part because the Democrats have not come ahead with a clear action plan, said Michael McKinley, a political science professor at the Australian National University.

“There would have been some concern in policy making circles here if the Democrats had said: 'We are definitely going to withdraw by Christmas,'" McKinley said. “But they’re not able to say that.”