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New York Democratic mayoral primary undecided

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 September 2005, 00:47 CDT

By Christopher Michaud

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Former Bronx Borough President Fernando Ferrer was the top vote-getter in New York's Democratic mayoral primary on Tuesday, but it was unclear whether he could avoid a runoff with the runner-up, U.S. Rep. Anthony Weiner.

With 99.7 percent of precincts reporting, unofficial results showed "Freddy" Ferrer had 39.9 percent the vote, just shy of the 40 percent threshold needed to avoid a runoff in three weeks.

Weiner, who made a late push in the final weeks of the campaign, finished with nearly 29 percent.

Christopher Riley, a spokesman for the city's Board of Elections, said there are approximately 25,000 absentee ballots that need to be counted. Those results won't be known for "a couple of days," he said.

Political experts say regardless of the outcome, the Democratic nominee will likely lose against Republican Mayor Michael Bloomberg, the billionaire businessman elected just weeks after the September 11, 2001, attacks on the World Trade Center.

The popular incumbent is expected to spend more than $100 million on this campaign.

A lifelong Democrat who switched parties when he decided to run for office to avoid a more crowded primary field, Bloomberg faced no opposition but still threw a victory party on Tuesday.

"Somebody told me there's a primary contest somewhere," the mayor joked to supporters. "I love primary night, especially when I don't have to run in one."

Meanwhile, in his first real contest in two decades, Manhattan District Attorney Robert Morgenthau, the 86-year-old prosecutor who has held the high-profile post for 31 years, appeared to have prevailed with 59 percent of the vote. Leslie Crocker Snyder, a former state judge now in private legal practice, attracted 41 percent.

In another closely watched race, incumbent New York Public Advocate Betsy Gotbaum defeated Norman Siegel, director of the New York Civil Liberties Union, 48 percent to 30 percent. The public advocate would run the city should the mayor be incapacitated, according to the city's charter.

Source: REUTERS

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