July 19, 2006
"Nobody has ever been able to account, monitor and verify the figures of postal votes"
The Mail & Guardian (Johannesburg) reports "How Zimbabwe poll was fixed"
A former Zanu-PF provincial chairperson has spilled the beans on how the ruling party rigged the 2002 presidential election, which President Robert Mugabe won against most expectations ... Now the leader of the newly formed United People's Party (UPP), Shumba said Zanu-PF manipulated the postal votes, which election observers are unable to monitor properly ... In a detailed reaction to Mail & Guardian inquiries on how elections have been rigged in the past, Shumba said the weakness is that "nobody has ever been able to account, monitor and verify the figures of postal votes".
Unable to account for postal votes?
That sounds vaguely familiar. It kind of makes you wonder what Ron Sims and Larry Phillips hope to accomplish once they
manage to stuff King County's mailboxes with unsolicited postal ballots.
hat tip: DN
Posted by Stefan Sharkansky at July 19, 2006
09:23 AM | Email This
1. Well, that about says it all, doesn't it?
2. libs to public: "...nothing to see here--move along..." say--did we get a postcard from Dean Logan yet?
3. What a completely racist comment from the racist wing-nuts - equating the democrats to a fledgling country trying to stand up after imperialist English rule. Typical! Call the ruling elite Hitler, racist, etc. Nothing better to do, when all the elite are trying to do is make things better for the average person. How dare the wing-nuts question the well-meaning elite.
OK - back to reality. What else would anyone expect from Sims?
4. Dr Daniel Shumba's comments are interesting. But his political strategy is self-defeating.
Zimbabwe has single member districts and winner-take-all plurality elections without any runoffs. There is already a major opposition party, the Movement for Democratic Change.
Shumba has formed another another, the United People's Party. Unless the UPP can unite with the MDC and run a unified slate of candidates, then the governing ZANU-PF will likely be able to get re-elected due to the split in the opposition.
5. Yep, the election was fixed, no surprise there. Fred, you seem to be under the illusion that Mugabe is a sweet and wonderful old man. I bet that the over 3,500 people who die in his country each week due to treatable diseases, starvation, and the occasional government sanctioned torture would have something to say about that, as would those fortunate enough to purchase a loaf of bread (At $140,000 Zimbabwean Dollars, or bearer cheques worth there abouts). Do not try to defend one of the most brutal and immoral dictators of the modern era, he certainly does not deserve it.
6. realist I think you missed that Fred was being sarcastic.
7. Arizona is thinking of even more creative ways to lure in uneducated and gullible voters. This seems to me to be the ultimate Democrat GOTV fraud scam. I'm surprised someone in WA did not think of this first. Check it out
here.
8. realist I think you missed that Fred was being sarcastic.
I have to admit, he had me going for a moment there as well untill I read the last line.
9. i give up--let's contract out with the native gambling casinos and tie in voting to the slots; efficient use of capital, audited, fun and a win win for state, tribe and voter; maybe we can have 'voting package weekends' where one can rekindle the love of your marriage AND vote AND get a cheap prime rib dinner (breakfast buffet included) all for one price!!
10. jeff B.: I like the lottery idea, but the prize should be the political office. It would probably give us better office holders than we are getting now, and it would be a great source of revenue. It would also give us "citizen legislators" and get rid of career politicians.