02 November 2004	Tuesday	18 Ramazan 1425

LONDON, Nov 1: The virtual vote is in - Democratic challenger John Kerry has won a landslide victory over President George Bush in a global sample of the world's opinion on the race for the White House.

More than 113,000 people from 119 countries made their choice at www.globalvote2004.org, handing Kerry a crushing win with 77 percent of the vote, a spokesman for the Web site said on Monday.

But there was consolation for Bush from what many would see as an unlikely source: the majority of virtual votes submitted from Iraq went to the incumbent.

The results of the non-official vote were released a day before Americans go to the polls in the real election.

Third party candidates, including independent Ralph Nader, took nearly 14 percent of the vote, while Bush garnered a mere nine percent.

"Iraq was one of the few countries where Bush actually won and the Middle East voted 37 percent for Bush compared to a world average of 9.1 percent," the Web site spokesman said.

"We're not trying to tell Americans how to vote, we're just giving them feedback from the rest of the world. The outcome of the real vote affects non-US citizens enormously in the post-9/11 age," he added.-Reuters