Tuesday, December 06, 2005



Another sham election

Kazhakstan's Presidential "election" has turned out to be the usual Central Asian sham, with OSCE observers reporting

[u]nauthorised persons interfering in polling stations, cases of multiple voting, ballot box stuffing and pressure on students to vote... during the count, observers saw tampering with result protocols and a wide range of procedural violations.

They also noted significant problems with the campaign, including restrictions on campaigning and advertising, disruption of campaign events, and that laws protecting "the application of the law on protection of the honour and dignity of candidates limited political discourse and freedom of expression". Meanwhile, Chinese observers have declared that

the polls were transparent and fair and that no cases of voting irregularities had been discovered.

But I guess none of the above is at all irregular in China.

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