Jimmy Carter at American University in Washington, D.C.

Five years after the controversial 2000 presidential election, ex-President Jimmy Carter now says he's certain Al Gore defeated George W. Bush.

"Well I would say that in the year 2000, the country failed abysmally in the presidential election process," Carter told a panel Monday at American University in Washington, D.C. "There's no doubt in my mind that Al Gore was elected president."

Those in attendance broke out in applause for that statement.

"[Gore] received the most votes nationwide, and in my opinion, he also received the most votes in Florida," Carter continued. "And the decision was made as you know by a 5-4 vote on a highly partisan basis by the U.S. Supreme Court, so I would say in 2000, there was a failure."

2000 election map

The year 2000 saw the closest presidential election in American history, as Bush won the electoral vote 271-266, despite losing the popular vote to Gore by a half-million votes.

Carter's analysis went on to include last year's matchup between Bush and Democrat Sen. John Kerry, as the election came down to a battle over the electoral votes in Ohio.

"The year 2004 is hard to grade," said Carter. "I don't have any detailed information about what actually went on in Ohio. If Ohio had gone one way or the other, it would have changed the outcome of the election. And the only thing that I know about Ohio, was that there's general consensus that the secretary of state of Ohio, who is responsible for the administration of the election, was highly partisan in his public approach and perhaps even in his private adminstration. But I don't know about that."

2004 election map

Carter's remarks are sparking discussion on messageboards across the Internet, with comments including: