HBO’s Recount: Democracy at work, democracy at its worst

I was looking forward to the HBO original movie ‘Recount’, a film about the controversial 2000 US presidential elections. The film starred academy award winner Kevin Spacey as a Democratic Party campaign manager. For political and history junkies, this film is indeed a must-see.

As events would tell, George W. Bush eventually won the presidency against Al Gore, but not without a bitter fight that almost placed America in a leadership crisis never seen before. The movie began with the election in progress and the confusion among television networks on which candidate did win Florida. Then Vice President Gore was forced to retract his concession to then Texas Gov. Bush upon learning that the Florida tally might have been flawed.

This resulted to a recount that led to a can of worms being opened regarding the manner of how the elections were conducted. Allegations of mass disenfranchisement of voters and the medieval-like electoral process exposed cracks in America’s once –mighty reputation as the role model in holding free and fair elections.

Elections in the Philippines has always been scrutinized for being violent and laden with cheating. Since democracy was restored in 1986, all but one presidential election have not escaped the opinions of many that the result may have gone the other way if no deliberate attempt to sway it was placed. As the Gloria Arroyo experience has shown, the price of having any question to the legitimacy of a sitting president that has not been sufficiently brought into closure can be expensive.