The result of the race for the US Presidency was yesterday delayed for at least 24 hours after a night of drama and high farce.

After a campaign lasting well over a year and costing hundreds of millions of dollars, the final decision on who will take on the world's most powerful job rests with a handful of voters in Florida.

With votes in the electoral college resting on a knife-edge, the presidency was guaranteed to the victor in the sunshine state, where the result was too close to be declared without a recount.

After a night of roller-coaster ups and downs in the candidates' fortunes, Democrat Al Gore conceded defeat in an early-hours phone call to his Republican rival, George W Bush - only to retract it after aides alerted him to the narrowness of the Florida result.

According to the latest unofficial counts in Florida, Mr Bush leads Mr Gore by only 1,655 out of six million votes cast in the state, with thousands of overseas votes and postal ballots still to be counted.

With all other states' results in, Mr Gore is leading Mr Bush by 260 electoral college votes to 246.

Candidates need 270 to win, making Florida's 25 votes - all of which go to the victor in the state - decisive.

A recount was automatically triggered because the margin of victory was less than half of one per cent, and Florida's Secretary of State announced that it should be completed by the end of today..

Former US Secretary of State Warren Christopher is to oversee the recount for the Democrats, and national representatives from both parties were en route to Florida to keep watch.

Last night, Bush cautiously claimed victory in the original count. "If that result is confirmed in the automatic recount, as we expect it to be, then we have won the election," he said.

If so, he will be the first candidate in over 100 years to win the US presidency while polling fewer votes than his rival, thanks to the country's arcane electoral college system.

But Mr Gore's campaign chairman William Daley, appeared before supporters in Nashville, Tennessee, to insist the election was not all over.

Vice-President Gore dominated most of the big industrial states, including New York, where first lady Hillary Clinton won a seat in the Senate.

Night of drama - Page 12