AMERICAN expatriates stayed up through the night or rose before dawn in countries around the world to follow the outcome of the US presidential election.
Whether toasting Bill Clinton's reelection or mourning Bob Dole's defeat, many of the estimated 3.5 million Americans living overseas gathered at parties to munch hamburgers, pancakes and doughnuts.
Many who had battled through bureaucratic hurdles to obtain band dispatch absentee ballots to their home states spent the night casting their votes in straw polls.
More than 1,000 Americans and Germans packed the Amerika Haus in Berlin for aft all night party. In Rome the US Embassy hosted a party at the Excelsior Hotel that stretched into the early hours.
At the US Embassy in Pan's hundreds of Americans briefly put down their fried chicken and nachos to burst out singing the American national anthem in the middle of the night.
At the Amerika Haus, the crowd erupted into a deafening roar at 3 a.m. when Clinton was proclaimed the winner by US television networks.
"It's a good mix of Americans and Germans," said the cultural attache, Mr Scott Rauland. "The Germans want to experience an American election party. German elections are much more sober."
The once neglected expatriate vote has become coveted by both major parties since 1988, when one senatorial race in Florida was overturned by absentee ballots.
In London, about 1,500 people followed the vote count on a huge television screen in the auditorium of the embassy.
"We held on to Congress, that's what we're happy about," said Ms Anne Collins, chairwoman of Republicans Abroad in Britain.
After Canada and Mexico, Germany has the highest number of American expatriates with just under 400,000. There are also large numbers of Americans in Britain, Italy, France and Israel.