Kerry gets a helping hand from a young supporter in Rome(Reuters)

The refrain "What happens in America affects us all", is a common one coming from all four corners of the globe these days, especially with the US elections just days away.

As never before, foreigners are figuring out ways to make their views on the election known. And to a large extent, they are doing it by going online.

From Afghanistan to Zimbabwe, non-Americans want to weigh in on the US elections like never before.

"All over the world, there is a need to have a say, or a wish to have a say, in this election," says London-based Swedish writer Henrik Delehag.

He and his writing partner, Ben Carey, decided to give non-Americans what they wanted, namely a chance to weigh in on who should be the next US president.

The two launched a website called www.globalvote2004.org where non-Americans can log in and cast their vote for US president.

The plan is to tabulate the votes, and release the results publicly 48 hours before the actual election.

Ben Carey says the internet makes it possible.

"People now understand that getting together in these mass virtual actions can get through to the mass media and to everyone else as a result." Mr Carey said.

The site is proving a hit. Late last week, 10 votes per second were being logged.

"We're getting votes from Armenia, from Venezuela. I'm getting phone calls from Macedonia. I mean, these are places even I have trouble putting on the map."

He says the idea is simply to make Americans aware of how the rest of the world sees the election.

His colleague, Henrik Delehag, admits that they have received some angry e-mails from US citizens who want foreigners to keep their opinions to themselves.

"It's a shame, because from the outset we said we do not want this to come across as something intrusive," says Mr Delehag.

"We spent a lot of time making the site look America-friendly, non-partisan and all that. But of course, we do get angry replies.

(Agencies)