Hmmm. I said, about ten posts or so ago, that that would be my last post. Now I'm posting two in a row. :rolleyes:
Anyway. Roger, you explained why all those things that looked so strange about the election of 2000 were really fair and square and perfectly constitutional. All right. And I'll keep insisting that the election of 2000 still looks bad and unfair to a foreigner - or at the very, very least, it looks bad to me. It is not any one of the little "irregularities" in themselves that makes the the election look bad. It is all the little irregularities added up together.
To make you see what I mean, I'll have to ask you to imagine a non-existing country, which I will call, for no reason at all, Irelia. I imagine it to be a little bit like Hugo Chavez' Venezuela, but really far more democratic. But the country is also a bit like one of those "new" nations that used to belong to the former Soviet Union, and I imagine it is situated there, too. But even though this country is religiously mixed, and even though there are strong Muslim groups there, this country does not have militant Islamism. And there are large groups of Christians there as well, who co-exist relatively peacefully with the Muslims.
Anyway. I imagined that this country is anxious to be a democracy. To achieve that end, it has copied large parts of the American voting system and the American elections!
So, for example, is it unconstitutional for a President of Irelia to be reelected more than once. Each term he (or very possibly she) serves lasts for four years. Just as is the case in the United States, it is possible in Irelia to win the popular vote and yet lose the election. That is because the country is divided into districts, each with its own governor, and it is the votes from the districts that counts, just like the case is in the United States.
So. I want you to imagine a President of Irelia, called Asaf Ashkov. Ashkov is sharply critical of many U.S. policies, accusing the United States of acting like an international bully. Therefore, Ashkov refuses to sell any of Irelia's oil to the United States. Instead, President Ashkov sells oil at reduced prices to countries that could be regarded as enemies of the United States, such as Cuba.
After four years in office, Ashkov is sensationally defeated in the next election by a man called Konstantin Yusuf. Yusuf is much more of a friend of the United States than Ashkov had been. Yusuf normalizes Irelia's relations with the United States and starts selling oil to it. Irelia's economy improves very noticably during Yusuf's Presidency.
However, Ashkov's political party resents the new course that Yusuf has charted for his country. Ashkov's party controls many important media in Irelia. These media start smearing Yusuf, printing various stories about his private life that make large parts of the Irelian people more and more disgusted with Yusuf. Unfortunately some of the accusations regarding Yusuf's sex life appear to be true, and Yusuf makes a bad situation worse by foolishly denying some of the accusations. Yusuf just barely manages to ride out his second term without being impeached.
Most Irealians are sufficently disgusted and embarrassed by the whole situation that they are happy to see Yusuf go. Now a new President will be elected. The candidate running for former President Ashkov's party is none other than President Ashkov's own son, Asaf V. Ashkov. He is up against the candidate for Konstantin Yusuf's party, a man named Christos Christov.
In spite of all the embarrassment and bad feelings surrounding former President Yusuf because of the sex scandals ascribed to him, many Irelians still want his policies to continue. They like the improved relations with the United States, for example. On the other hand, other Irelians want to return to former President Ashkov's policies. It is touch and go which of the candidates will win.
It was Christos Christov who won the popular vote. But the election was decided in a province called Firia, where Asaf V. Ashkov's own brother, Bilal Ashkov, was governor and somewhat responsible for the voting process.
Later the voting ballots were sharply criticized. They were constructed so that people who wanted to vote for Chistov could be fooled into voting for another candidate, Piotr Babov, instead. Presumably Christov lost important votes that way.
The vote in Firia was very close. In the end, Asaf V. Ashkov was declared the winner by a margin of about a hundred votes. Christov's party protested and wanted a recount. A recount started, but the Irelian Supreme Court, where seven of the nine jurors had been appointed by Ashkov's party, stepped in and stopped the recount, deeming it unconstitutional.
Asaf V. Ashkov was thereby declared the winner. He immediately lashed out at the United States and put an immediate stop to his country's oil export to the United States.
And now I'm just wondering if you, Roger, would have said that Asaf V. Ashkov's win was fair and square and a fine tribute to the democratic system of Irelia.
Ann
