RSS Feed MenuThe mullahs do not seem to have read this published excerpt from Paul Collier’s new book, Wars, Guns and Votes. If so, they would have done a better job with their election -rigging:
Option 7: Last but not least, miscount the votes
Pros: Finally, I have found a strategy that sounds reliable. With this one, I literally cannot lose. The tally might be: incumbent, 1; opponent, 10,000,000. But the headline will read: “Incumbent Wins Narrowly.” It also has advantages in reinforcing some of the other strategies. Once people get the sense that I am going to win anyway and that their true votes will not be counted, they have even less incentive to forgo bribes and take the risk of joining the opposition. Better still, I can also keep this strategy in reserve until I see that I am losing.
Cons: The international community won’t like it. I’ll just have to remember not to go overboard: not 99 percent. It should not look like a Soviet election.
A.B. // Jun 15, 2009 at 12:34 pm
Delightful. “The dread shown by the Soviet authorities to any form of competitive election has confused us into thinking that achieving a competitive election is in itself the key triumph. The reality is that rigging elections is not daunting: Only the truly paranoid dictators avoid them anymore.” (Collier) Of course, the upshot of this is that a rigged “landslide” proves them truly paranoid, to both the outside world and to the majority of their population. Amusingly short-sighted, no? They give away the legitimacy naturally accorded the clever (and presumably rational) dictator who artfully claims a “cliff-hanger.”
krove // Jun 15, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Are you calling Bush a Dictator for the events of the 2000 election? Because it’s the same thing. Just a different scale.
A.B. // Jun 15, 2009 at 2:45 pm
“Are you calling Bush a Dictator for the events of the 2000 election? Because it’s the same thing. Just a different scale.”(KRove) Very sloppy language on my part, using the word “Dictator.” Ironically, the regime seems challenged partly because it lacks a Dictator. I think this situation is likely to evolve (this time), and disagree with those who would write off the protests as hapless (hopeless, sure). They aren’t on the 24-hour news cycle, over there…
ottovbvs // Jun 15, 2009 at 3:12 pm
There’s a million people on the streets of Tehran protesting the election results. Right at this moment Iran looks a lot more democratic that Saudia Arabia and Egypt who are US allies in the region.