Elections in the United States: How the legal battle between Al Gore and Bush that put the world on hold

America holds its breath. After a night of electoral “déjà vu” compared to 2016, it is still not clear that the Democratic candidate, Joe biden, favorite in all polls, will snatch the presidency from Donald trump, who rushed to proclaim himself the winner without knowing the final results.

The scrutiny in key states like Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania – still ongoing – and complaints from “fraud” by Trump allow us to assume that the end result could depend on a legal battle, as in the 2000 elections in which the Republican George W. Bush won a court victory after validating a handful of votes in favor obtained in Florida.

// Elections in the United States: Donald Trump denounced the “fraud”: “We want the voting to stop”

Opposition US presidential candidate Joe Biden’s campaign today viewed Trump’s statements on stopping the vote count as “outrageous” and “unprecedented” and assured the The legal team “stands ready to act” in the face of any attempt to resolve the elections by judicial means.

The 2000 elections and a Supreme Court final

This election featured the son of former President George Bush (1989-1993) and Al gore, who came from two terms as Vice President (1993-2001) alongside Democrat Bill Clinton.

Florida had experienced months of extreme social and political polarization over the Cuban child case Elian Gonzalez, who at the end of 1999 had survived the trip to Cuba in which his mother lost her life.

The Clinton administration’s decision, coupled with Gore’s hesitant positions, to bring the child back to his father’s house on the island, led the Democrat to drastically reduce the sympathy of voters, mainly Cuban Americans who have a significant influence in this state, the BBC recalled.

The first hours of the electoral recount in Florida, whose governor was Jeb Bush – brother of the Republican candidate -, They gave victory to Gore, but over the minutes the trends started to change, to the point that the Democrat congratulated his opponent on his triumph at the national level, since the 29 electoral delegates that Florida delivers assured Bush passage to the Oval Room.

However, one of his campaign strategists informed Gore that the result in Florida was not clear and the Democrat called Bush again half an hour later to retract. He said a few thousand ballots were involved for various irregularities, and that he rushed into his first intervention.

The litigation traveled the entire Florida legal circuit and ended in the State Supreme Court which ordered by 4 votes to 3 a new count late November after refusing Bush’s victory for 537 votes approved by the electoral commission.

Finally the legal battle ended before the Supreme Court of the United States, which, 35 days later, on December 12, gave victory to Bush by five votes to four. AT Al gore He had no choice but to admit his defeat “in the name of unity and the strengthening of our democracy”.

In 2000, the elections were defined by a difference of 537 votes. It remains to be seen what will happen in 2020.