Gore has five days to overtake Bush in White House race

The decision, which came two weeks after the election, gave the Gore camp a chance to chip away at Republican candidate George W. Bush's narrow lead, which according to unofficial results stood at 930 out of 5.8 million votes cast in the state that is crucial in the race for the White House.

Final hand tallies are due for certification in the office of Florida Secretary of State Katherine Harris at 5 p.m. Sunday or, if her office is closed, 9 a.m. Monday, court spokesman Craig Waters said.

Waters said the court, in a 42-page ruling, had reversed two previous court orders on the basis of "long-standing rules" to allow the recounts to continue. "In dealing with similar conflicts in the past, the court has consistently held that the right of the people to cast their vote is the paramount concern, overriding all others," he said.

It was 9:45 p.m. when the court issued its unanimous decision, which Gore lauded at 11 p.m. with a live, three-minute television address.

"The Florida Supreme Court has now spoken, and we will move forward now with a full, fair and accurate count of the ballots in question," he said.

"I don't know what those ballots will show, I don't know whether (Texas) Governor Bush or I will prevail, but we do know that our democracy is the winner tonight."

Gore suggested that he and Bush meet "to demonstrate the essential unity that keeps America strong and free". It was the second time that Gore issued the invitation. Bush rejected the first one last week, saying, "once this election is over, I'll be glad to meet with Vice President Gore".

But Gore, in issuing his invitation again, suggested a meeting was necessary to guarantee a smooth transition from the Clinton administration on January 20. "I believe it's now appropriate for both of us to focus on the transition, to ensure that the new administration, whoever leads it, will be fully in place and fully prepared to lead. Our guiding principle must be what is good for our country," he said.

Bush's camp had hoped the court would halt the recounts in Democratic-leaning Palm Beach, Miami-Dade and Broward counties. Gore's camp contested election results in those counties because of technical problems in the ballot system.

James Baker, chief observer for the Bush campaign, reacted to the court's decision at midnight, saying that, in rendering such a decision, the court had "changed the rules and invented a new system for counting votes".

He said the court had "taken over functions of the executive branch, (and) disregarded the principle of separation of powers between the legislative and the judicial branch in the state of Florida."

"I'm sorry to say, but I think it clearly overreaches," he said of the decision. Baker said the court's ruling was disappointing but not surprising to the Bush camp, which has since the November 7 election argued that manual recounts are subject to bias and human error.

Bush spokeswoman Karen Hughes took the complaints to a new level last week when she alleged that Florida officials were "distorting, reinventing and miscounting" the vote. But the court, in its ruling, found that "our society has not yet gone so far as to put blind faith in machines".

It remained to be seen whether Gore gains enough votes in the recount to surpass Bush's lead. Without the amended certifications, Bush's lead would have guaranteed him the state's 25 Electoral College votes, pushing him over the 270-vote total necessary to take the 43rd presidency.

(la/dpa)