Republican George W Bush held a tiny and rapidly diminishing lead over Al Gore last night in the Florida recount to find the next US president.

With 62 of the state's 67 counties completing their recounts, the Texas governor's lead slumped to 341 votes out of nearly six million cast. That was less than a quarter the original margin.

The count was due to be completed late last night - but that was not going to be the end of the battle for the White House, as court actions loomed amid allegations of fraud and incompetence.

And absentee ballots still have until November 17 to arrive in Florida.

Even with the narrowing gap, Gore campaign manager William Daley said courts might find irregularities in the Florida results "an injustice unparalleled in our history".

And Democratic voters in Florida, protesting their rights have been violated, were going to court to demand a new election in Palm Beach County .

They claim they accidentally voted for Reform Party Candidate Pat Buchanan instead of Gore because the ballot paper was misleading.

Buchanan, a right-winger, picked up more than 3,400 votes in the county, far higher than in any other ward.

Officials in Palm Beach announced 19,120 ballots in the presidential race were tossed out before they were counted because more than one candidate was picked. Only 3,783 voters made that mistake on the Senate portion of the ballot.

Buchanan said "ineptitude" in ballot design may have caused many south Florida voters to vote for him inadvertently when they meant to vote for Gore.

He agreed that Gore actually might have won Florida on the basis of the challenged votes. "My guess is, I probably got some votes down there that really did not belong to me," he said.

Attorney General Janet Reno pledged to review any complaint brought to her, but said so far she has no reason to "jump in".

"We are not here to generate controversy," she said. "We are here to do what's right, to make sure the voice of the American people is heard."