Paris - Mr George W. Bush will move into the White House after beating his rival, Vice-President Al Gore, by a narrow margin, according to an unscientific but oddly reliable parallel vote carried out yesterday in Harry's New York Bar in central Paris.
The straw-poll organised in this historic watering-hole once frequented by Ernest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald has accurately predicted the outcome of all US presidential elections but one since 1924.
When the poll closed at 6 p.m. American tourists and residents in Paris had cast 451 votes for Bush against 357 for Gore. The vote was open to any Americans who dropped by the bar for a drink.
"The electric chair has won," Serge, a barman for 16 years, told journalists over the phone.
The winner's announcement kicks off a long night of congratulation, commiseration and consumption. Some 300 people have been invited to drink in the official results, due at 5 a.m. today, though many more were expected to turn up.
Harry's New York Bar was founded by the MacElhone family in 1911 and now belongs to the widow of the original owner's grandson. Legend has it that cocktails such as the Bloody Mary and Blue Lagoon were invented there.