Russians gloated yesterday over the chaos marring the US presidential election after decades of enduring American preaching about democracy.
Russia's leadership has steered clear of any debate on whether it preferred Mr Al Gore or Mr George W. Bush as the next US president, pending the final results. But Russian officials have been unabashed in blasting the US system for being unable to decide a winner two days after the vote and suggesting that voters had been misrepresented.
"Our presidential elections are conducted in more a democratic fashion and are more easily understood by voters," Mr Alexander Veshnyakov, chairman of Russia's Central Election Commission, told the Russian newspaper Kommersant after watching vote counts in Chicago.