An appeal to Americans

The U.S. presidential election on Tuesday is undoubtedly going to be the most important and most watched election the world has seen.

In terms of its impact on people around the world, it dwarfs the elections just held in Indonesia, Afghanistan, Australia and any other country that has held polls over the past year.

Given America's preeminence in global affairs, which is unprecedented in the history of mankind, this is going to be the most important election ever. It even surpasses in importance the election of the secretary-general of the United Nations, which is supposedly the highest world body.

It is no exaggeration to call this the mother of all elections.

The United States is today the only global superpower. Although it does not have complete control of the world, it has enough clout to determine the direction of global development in politics, security and economic development.

Today, America enjoys a degree of military, political and economic power that no previous empire possessed. Whoever Americans elect as their president on Tuesday is going to be the most powerful leader in the world.

Looking back at past empires, we know that such power was sometimes used wisely, but more frequently than not it was abused.

It is therefore important that Americans vote for the right candidate, one who will use his power wisely, not only for the sake of Americans, but also given America's preeminence, for the rest of mankind. The rest of the world is just as anxious as the U.S. about the outcome of Tuesday's presidential election.

The last four years under President George W. Bush has raised concern about the way the United States uses its power. The U.S. has pursued its narrow national interests, often at the expense of global interests. We have seen time and again Washington deciding to go it alone in defiance of global public opinion, using its prerogative as the world's sole superpower whenever its national interests came into conflict with what were widely perceived as the interests of the world.

The U.S.'s penchant for unilateralism has become more pronounced these last four years.

We saw this on the question of global warming, on trade and investment, on global security and geopolitics, and on matters of international justice. The positions taken by the United States to serve its own narrow interests undermined its reputation as a champion of free trade, the environment, human rights and justice.

Inevitably, these positions have also weakened America's moral strength in addressing these issues. A politically and militarily powerful America that does not enjoy moral authority is doomed. Past empires met similar fates.

Time and again we have also seen the U.S. defy the rules of the game set by the United Nations. As imperfect as the world body may be, much of the world continues to pin its hopes on the United Nations to impose some semblance of global order, knowing that the alternative would be global anarchy. The coalition of the willing that Washington put together to give legitimacy to its unilateralist actions in Iraq cannot and must never be seen as a substitute for the United Nations.

No doubt Tuesday's presidential election in the United States will be widely watched around the world. In spite of having such a huge stake in its outcome, the rest of the world will be mere spectators with no power or influence.

An election that will, by and large, determine the fate of more than six billion people will be decided by the 100 million or so Americans who vote on Tuesday.

The rest of the world can only appeal to Americans and remind them of their duty as the world's most powerful nation. They must bear in mind that when they cast their votes on Tuesday, they are also voting on behalf of the rest of the world. Whoever they elect president is going to have immense power to make this world a better or a worse place to live.