October 13, 2004 – (United Nations) A coalition of U.S.-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has petitioned the United Nations seeking international observers to monitor the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.

A coalition of U.S.-based non-governmental organisations (NGOs) has petitioned the United Nations seeking international observers to monitor the upcoming U.S. presidential elections.

''We recognise that there are various levels of monitoring activities that the United Nations can provide,'' says the petition, signed by seven NGOs, including the Women's International League for Peace and Freedom, the Economic Human Rights Project, Alliance for Democracy and National Welfare Rights Union.

''We feel what is most crucial is U.N.-sponsored observers who can provide an international perspective based on accessing the elections through domestic NGO activities, in NGO-identified hot spots and provide some international accountability,'' the petition says.

In July this year, a group of U.S. legislators, mostly from the opposition Democratic Party, asked U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan to send a team of observers for the Nov. 2 elections.

''We are deeply concerned that the rights of U.S. citizens to vote in free and fair elections are again in jeopardy,'' they said, pointing out that the last presidential elections in 2000 were ''tainted,'' with nearly six million votes left uncounted, mostly for technical or logistical reasons.

U.N. Associate Spokeswoman Marie Okabe told reporters in July, the ''general policy and practice has been that the United Nations responds to requests from national governments, not from legislative bodies.''

Asked if it would respond favourably if such a request came from governments, she said, ''From what I understand from the U.N. electoral division, if the request comes from a government, that is something that in practice and policy has been taken as an 'official' request.''

''Now (how they would move forward), it's purely hypothetical in this case. But as you do know, the observing of an election requires a mandate from the General Assembly,'' Okabe added.

Told of the possible hurdle, a spokeswoman for the NGO coalition, Grace Ross, told IPS: ''NGOs go through a different body of the United Nations, the Economic and Social Council (ECOSOC). We have legal standing there.''

Ross added, ''legislative leaders don't have legal standing in the U.N. General Assembly, or apparently anywhere in the United Nations''.

That is the primary reason why an NGO request stands a better chance of getting a favourable response from the United Nations than U.S. congressional leaders or U.S. politicians, she argued.

The 2000 U.S. elections were marred by several voting irregularities, including the disenfranchisement of minority voters -- mostly in the state of Florida. A final decision on the outcome of the election, which Bush won, was made by the U.S. Supreme Court.

''George W Bush was never elected president by the people of the United States of America,'' says Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois College of Law.

''Instead, he was anointed for that office by five justices of the United States Supreme Court, who themselves had been appointed by Republican presidents,'' Boyle told IPS.

He called Bush's installation, ''an act of judicial usurpation of the American Constitution that was unprecedented in the history of the American republic''.

''Had it occurred in a developing country, such subversion of democratic processes would have been greeted with knowing derision throughout the western world,'' Boyle added.

''So of course U.N. monitors are necessary,'' he said, ''but ultimately it will be for the American people to fight for our own republic and constitution. We cannot and must not pawn off that sacred responsibility to the United Nations organisation,'' said Boyle, author of 'Destroying World Order.'

In August the Bush administration agreed to accept a team of international observers from the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in Europe (OSCE), a first in U.S. presidential elections.

''The United States is obliged to invite us, as all OSCE countries should. It's not legally binding, but it's a political commitment,'' OSCE Spokeswoman Urdur Gunnarsdottir was quoted as saying. ''They signed a document 10 years ago to ask OSCE to observe elections.''

Based in Vienna, the OSCE is described as the largest regional security organisation in the world, counting 55 states from Europe, Central Asia and North America. It is active in early warning, conflict prevention, crisis management and post-conflict rehabilitation.

''We strongly support the presence of European monitors,'' Ross told IPS. ''In addition, however, we feel that it would be also important to have the intervention of the United Nations and the oversight of the United Nations for several reasons.''

In its petition, the coalition said, ''it's not clear that the European observers will have the same force of international law behind them, given that they are guests of the U.S. government.''

''Perhaps most worrisome is that it is not clear to us that the European observers will be in a position to assist us in exposing governmental abuses of the right to vote, one of which includes the very real threat by the Bush administration of postponing the election due to governmentally-verified threats of international terrorism.''

For all these reasons, the petition said, ''we are therefore requesting that the United Nations sponsor international observers and monitors for the upcoming elections.''