World | USA
World hopes for 'sign of change' as US votes for new leader
Around the world, throngs packed outdoor plazas and pubs to await US elections results on Wednesday.
- AP
- Published: 00:31 November 5, 2008
- Image Credit: AP
- Residents wait to cast their votes in Hialeah, Florida. Long lines formed at voting stations as polls opened in this contentious swing state where the outcome could be decided by a handful of votes.
Berlin: Around the world, throngs packed outdoor plazas and pubs to await US elections results on Wednesday.
As millions of voters decided between Barack Obama or John McCain, the world was abuzz with the sense of bearing witness to a moment of US history.
"America is electing a new president, but for the Germans, for Europeans, it is electing the next world leader," said Alexander Rahr, director of the German Council on Foreign Relations.
In Kenya, Obama's ancestral homeland, the atmosphere was electric with pride and excitement as people flocked to all-night parties to watch election results roll in.
In Germany, the election dominated television ticker crawls, newspaper headlines and Web sites.
In Paris, among the more irreverent festivities planned was a "Goodbye George" party to bid farewell to Bush.
"Like many French people, I would like Obama to win because it would really be a sign of change," said Vanessa Doubine, shopping Tuesday on the Champs-Elysees.
McCain enjoyed a strong current of support in countries such as Israel, where he is perceived as tougher on Iran.
Israeli bank employee Leah Nizri, 53, said Obama represented potentially frightening change.
"I think he'll be pleasant to Israel, but he will make changes," she said. "He's too young. I think that especially in a situation of a world recession, where things are so unclear in the world, McCain would be better than Obama."
In the sleepy Japanese coastal town of Obama, images of him adorned banners along a main shopping street in preparation for an election day victory party.
Election fever also ran high in Vietnam, where McCain was held as a prisoner of war for more than five years after being shot down in Hanoi during a 1967 bombing run.
Related Links
- McCain seeks to peak in time
- Long wait for change in US
- Expatriates in UAE offer differing views on election
- Syrians 'Obamistic' about US election outcome
- Indian astrologer predicts next US president
- Arab websites plastered with US poll coverage
- Fraudsters seek to manipulate online polls
- Iraqis keenly monitor progress of US polls
- Obama owes it to a frail lady's refusal to yield to history
More from USA
More from World
News Editor's choice
-
Allies quit ruling coalition in Nepal
Political row could trigger months of street protests and violence
-
Qatar blaze 'started at nursery'
Fire killed 19 including 13 children, at Doha’s main shopping centre
-
Jagan jailed over illegal assets
Andhra Pradesh leader accused of corruption, cheating, conspiracy
