CONFUSION REIGNED yesterday in the Connecticut gubernatorial race, 48 hours after the midterm election in which Tom Foley, a former US ambassador to Ireland, is a candidate.
The Connecticut secretary of state, Susan Bysiewicz, had promised to announce a final tally yesterday between Mr Foley, a Republican who served as George W Bush’s ambassador to Ireland, and Dan Malloy, a Democrat and the former mayor of Stamford.
Instead however, Ms Bysiewicz said she had not received a final count from Bridgeport.
A shortage of ballots in Bridgeport, the state’s largest city, led to long queues there. The Republican Governors Association has objected to people having voted on photocopied ballots and said that some stations remained open late.
On Wednesday, the Associated Press declared Mr Malloy the winner, after preliminary results showed him more than 3,000 votes ahead. AP later retracted the report after the official count showed Mr Foley 8,500 votes in the lead, with 98 per cent of ballots counted.
Both men have declared victory and both are preparing transitional teams. Until close races in Connecticut, Illinois and Minnesota are decided, the US has 18 Democratic governors, 29 Republicans and one independent.
