For international students, American democracy under fire

The election deadlock between Republican candidate George W. Bush and Democratic candidate Al Gore has affected more than just American students at Princeton.

Even though international students — who make up roughly 5 percent of the student body — could not vote in this month's elections, many say they still have a paramount interest in who wins.

Rebecca Simson '04, who is from Sweden, said that despite the current deadlock, the eventual winner will play an important role in shaping America's international image.

"I see the American president's role first and foremost from an international perspective, and from this perspective the presidential candidate and the values he [or] she stands for is extremely influential in world politics," she said in an e-mail.

Also at stake is what the eventual president might do for some international students' native countries.

Tim Allen '04, who lives in South Africa, said in an e-mail, "I was hoping Al Gore would win, as he has far better policy with regard to South Africa, having been there a number of times, and knowing our president as he does."

Others expressed concern that the unresolved election has disrupted Wall Street and financial markets in other countries.

Thais Melo '04, who is from Brazil, decried the legal battles raging in Florida. "This situation is not amusing at all, as comical as it may seem. It is messing with my country's economy and the dollar price has been rising a lot. Can't the world's most powerful country count votes?"

The problems of contested vote counts and unclear winners are not new for some international students, however, Allen said.

"I don't think I've lived through a single election that hasn't had all sorts of things called into doubt," Allen said. "Ballot boxes going missing, trucks full of blank ballots turning up mysteriously days later, that sort of thing."

Mikaela Tyson '04 from Jamaica, said she sees at least some corruption as a natural by-product of the democratic process.

"I think that there is always a level of fraudulent activity that occurs in every election," she said in an e-mail. "In Jamaica, the margin of error is large because of the less sophisticated — read third world — methods used to tally votes. However, I would expect that a developed country like the U.S. would have their voting system up to par."

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International students agreed the low voter turnout in the United States, where only about half of those eligible came out to vote, was appalling.

"I would expect the election turnout to be much higher than fifty percent," Pamir Yoruk '01, an electrical engineering major from Turkey, said in an e-mail. "A country that is the ultimate defender of democracy in the whole world should do better than fifty percent. That just shows that people of the U.S. either do not know what democracy is or worse than that they don't really care."

Simson noted that the president often wins with the support of only about one-quarter of all registered voters.

"It is a scary prospect that the democratically-elected leader is actually supported by less than thirty percent of the American population, and less than half of the people who actually did vote," she said.

Many international students harshly criticized the Electoral College system. They said they felt it is not truly representative of the will of the American people because it is possible for one candidate to win the popular vote and still lose the election.

Simson said she expects the election brouhaha to result in substantial changes to the American electoral system.

"The electoral system seems to be on its way out, rightly I believe. It is not a true democracy if an elected leader did not get most of the votes," she said. "The electoral system also seems to divide the country into regions instead of individuals — which you Americans are usually so inclined to promote."

Hashim Dabbagh '01, a Butler RA from Saudi Arabia, said this year's election is indicative of larger problems with American politics.

"To anyone with common sense, this election fiasco exposed just how absurd the notion of democracy is in the United States," he said. "In almost every state, all the electoral votes go to the candidate who wins the majority vote within that state, even if victory is by a very narrow margin."

Furthermore, international students were generally critical of the U.S. two-party system.

In many democratic nations, people vote for the party and not for the candidate. There are often more than two parties involved in the government in other countries. Esen Caglar '03, who is from Turkey, said that in his country, there are five parties sharing the power.

Simson said she believes the current election crisis resulted from the failure of the two-party system to address the issues that matter most to the American people.

"I'm glad Ralph Nader ['55] and Pat Buchanan showed up just to pull the carpet out from under the Republicans' and Democrats' feet," she said. "America needs more variety and more options."

She added, "Overall, I think all democracies battle these general questions, and it is good that these issues are brought to the surface, specifically in America."

Yoruk explained he was disappointed by the quality of the candidates the two parties had to offer.

"I was actually surprised to see that out of 250 million people, the two that finally contested for the presidency were not at all impressive neither in intellect nor in charisma," he said.

Some international students seemed amused by the situation. After all, some pointed out, America has intervened in the elections of Third World countries and yet the country seems unable to resolve its own election.