Charges and counter-charges, suits and disputes have filled the air since election day, to the surprise of many who thought the world's most advanced democracy should have such problems well in hand. But a comparison with other nations shows that we are woefully behind. Pacific News Service associate editor Andrew Reding is a senior fellow of the World Policy Institute in New York.

We Americans like to think we lead the world in our mastery of the fine points of democracy. But this presidential election -- and particularly the Florida recount -- is demonstrating what professionals who observe elections have known for some time.

By modern international standards, the U.S. electoral system is antiquated, inconsistent, imprecise, and tinged by partisan bias.

These inadequacies make a credible outcome to the Florida recount virtually unimaginable. Let's consider why, using accepted international benchmarks.

The most glaring defect is partisanship in the way ballots were counted and certified.

When election boards run by Democrats in Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties make critical decisions on how to count dimples on ballots, it is hard to have much faith in their impartiality.

Similarly, when Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris -- Republican co-chair of George W. Bush's statewide campaign -- certifies a disputed vote count that hands the state's 25 electors to Bush, there is a credibility problem.

Ditto when two Republican operatives are allowed to correct thousands of absentee ballots in Seminole County -- enough to determine the outcome of the election.

Other countries, to ensure credibility, entrust elections to nonpartisan electoral commissions. Their members are chosen with the sort of care we use in choosing federal judges.

This removes the electoral process from the realm of partisan politics, and makes election results credible beyond dispute.

Elections Canada, a nonpartisan agency, managed to count 13 million paper ballots in 301 parliamentary districts in just a few hours without a hitch on Monday. Even Mexico, which had its first undisputed federal election in memory last July -- and its first-ever peaceful transition between opposing political parties -- has recently created an independent electoral authority.

But that's just the beginning. Another serious U.S. deficiency is the absence of national standards for federal elections. Every state and county sets its own rules, generating thousands of different standards.

Some counties use old-fashioned mechanical voting machines or new-fangled computer touch screens. Others use cumbersome paper ballots. Still others use cheap but inaccurate punch cards, as in most Florida counties. The hanging or dimpled "chads" that result from incomplete punches have become the laughingstock of the nation, precisely because they make it so difficult to decipher the voter's intent.

And that's not all. Since every state and county handles voter registration in its own way, it is hard to have much faith in the accuracy of the voter lists. As Florida shows, the dead remain on many lists for a disturbing length of time, and are sometimes able to vote by absentee ballot with a little help from relatives (a mere phone call can suffice to obtain a ballot).

Non-citizens have been able to register and vote in some Florida counties. In some places in the United States, it is possible to register and vote on the same day. In others, no photo ID is required.

By contrast, other countries have standardized voting procedures. They also have national registration cards with photo ID. Some, like Costa Rica, require voters to mark ballots with their thumbprint.

The United States does have a Federal Electoral Commission. But its only power is to oversee campaign finance rules. It cannot set standards for voter registration, voting procedures, or for certifying vote counts.

Nor is it truly nonpartisan -- it is bipartisan, consisting of equal numbers of Democrats and Republicans. That is neither fair to other parties nor a guarantee of impartiality. Add three partisans of one stripe to three of another, and you end up with six partisans. Plus, as the Florida experience demonstrates, equally balanced partisanship is a recipe for gridlock and crisis.