jdb@qubix.UUCP (Jeff Bulf) (11/05/84)
Well, well. Election day in Nicaragua. Depth covrage won't be available for
a while, but this evening's KPFA news told enough to offer a _preliminary_
comparison of electoral procedures in Nicaragua and El Salvador.
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Source for El Salvador: NACLA Report On the Americas, mar-apr/82
More details on request.
(or copies, if not too many ask) More info welcome.
[This article dealt with the March 1982 elections.
I understand from KPFA news (the only place I've heard
the issue discussed) that the 1984 elections followed
the same procedures.]
Source for Nicaragua: KPFA evening news, 4/Nov/84.
only source available at time of writing.
note: El Salvador's clear plastic ballot boxes may not be as openly
hypocritical as they sound at first. They say it is to prevent
pre-stuffing of the boxes. Nicaragua prevented pre-stuffing by allowing
all parties to have observers at all polling places, and to examine
the ballot boxes before polling began.
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
feature Country A Country B
------- --------- ---------
voting privacy Full-size booth. No booth.
Ankle-length Wall on three sides of top of
blue curtains. ballot bax (~1-ft high) to hide
hands from view. Box in sight
of govt. observers.
ballot boxes Solid plywood. Clear lucite plastic.
Interior not Ink visible thru once-folded
visible. ballot.
ballots ? Numbered, matching number
opposite voter's signature in
sign-in book.
procdure Show voter id. Validate personal id.
Needed to:
No impact on other Cash paycheck.
activities. Get medical attention.
Pass checkpoints of the
security forces.
participation 7 opposition parties 6 right-to-far-right parties
(4 left, 3 right?) on ballot. All opposition
on ballot. Reagan- leaders on army death list,
backed candidate published in major newspapers
boycotted, asking in the capital. They boycotted.
postponement until
his chances of winning
improved. No death squads. No death threats. One
candidate kidnapped by CIA-backed mercenaries,
present status unknown.
--
Dr Memory
...{amd,ucbvax,ihnp4}!qubix!jdbsimon@elwood.DEC (Product Safety 237-3521) (11/06/84)
The comparison shown for two contries' elections (Salvador and Nicaragua) reminds me of another country, where I voted probably a dosen of times until I left it for the USA. I am talking about the USSR. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- feature Country A Country B ------- --------- --------- >voting privacy Full-size booth. No booth. Ankle-length Wall on three sides of top of blue curtains. ballot bax (~1-ft high) to hide hands from view. Box in sight of govt. observers. In USSR: Full size booth. Full size red curtains. >ballot boxes Solid plywood. Clear lucite plastic. Interior not Ink visible thru once-folded visible. ballot. In USSR: Solid plywood. Interior not visible. >ballots ? Numbered, matching number opposite voter's signature in sign-in book. In USSR: Blind, no correlation between a ballot and a person >procdure Show voter id. Validate personal id. Needed to: No impact on other Cash paycheck. activities. Get medical attention. Pass checkpoints of the security forces. In USSR: Show the passport (every sitizen must carry the passport at all times, though it is not always done in practice). No impact on other activities. >participation 7 opposition parties 6 right-to-far-right parties (4 left, 3 right?) on ballot. All opposition on ballot. Reagan- leaders on army death list, backed candidate published in major newspapers boycotted, asking in the capital. They boycotted. postponement until his chances of winning improved. No death squads. No death threats. One candidate kidnapped by CIA-backed mercenaries, present status unknown. In USSR: This is the only difference - no opposition. But it should be noted that Nicaraguan opposition that did not withdraw is, by its number, is equivalent to Soviet write-ins. I think this is a good comparison also. Looks like a perfect democratic election. But I hope that even liberals know the value of the Soviet election. Exactly the same type of election has been carried on in many other communist countries. Some of those countries, like Poland, are even allowed to have a few "independent" parties, but the total picture is the same. Yesterday a Boston TV station interviewed a few people who returned to Boston from Nicaragua, they also were fooled by the performance. What I am saying here is not just an academic discussion - my knowledge of the subject is first-hand. I was born and grew up in Russia, I HAD TO TAKE PART IN PREPARATIONS AND OBSERVING ELECTIONS. I came to the USA just three years ago. Leo Simon decwrl!rhea!elwood!simon This view is my own and may be not of my employer.
alan@sdcrdcf.UUCP (Alan Algustyniak) (11/08/84)
In USA (Nov 6 Los Angeles): --------------------------- Voting Booth: Completely open on one side. No curtain. In view of polling officials. Ballots: Marked with unique number. Ballot Boxes: Opaque, Locked In Poland --------- Voting Booth: Closed and curtained. Person not in view of officials. Ballots: ? Ballot Boxes: Opaque, Locked Oh, did i happen to mention in the above that in Poland, when you wish to vote FOR the Communist Party, you walk to one end of the room, go into the booth to make the make on the ballot, come out and drop it in a box at that end of the room, while if you don't vote for the Communist Party, you don't go to the booth since there is nothing to mark. You simply go to the other end of the room and drop it into the box at that end? No? Oh, Gee whiz! I guess things aren't always as they seem when one selectivly describes the surfaces of Soviet actions. Dear me! We learn something every day! sdcrdcf!alan