http://english.pravda.ru/main/18/88/353/14750_.htmlthis just confirms to me Putin and Bush are on the same game plan!!!
Major scandal evolves around e-voting machines in Russia
12/22/2004 14:21
This seems to be the first time Russian electronic system for counting paper ballots has had such major glitch.
On December 19th Russia's Arkhangelsky region hosted local Legislative Assembly elections. Several other major coastal towns were also electing new leaders of administration as well as local delegates at around the same time. The results shocked not only the actual candidates and voters but many members of the elections committee as well.
Apparently, what the electronic system for counting paper ballots had displayed had little to do with reality! Distrustful observers from the majority of candidates preferred to stand in close proximity to the electronic counting devices and counted each ballot manually. Hours later, the elections results were announced.and as it turned out, the results did not match at all! In fact, they weren't even close! Nonetheless, representatives of the elections committee refuse to conduct hand recount of the ballots. "This isn"t America!" they claim in unison.
Here is a real paradox: electronic machine manual FORBIDS hand recount of paper ballots. The situation resembles events in Abkhazia, Georgia and Ukraine. Rumor has it that supporters of the northern electorate intend to go on strike. Members of one of the opposition blocs in Arkhangelsk plan to the piquet local elections committee building. In the Russian town of Severodvinsk, crowds are already gathering by the city hall. Nearly two hundred complaints have been filed to the administration pointing to the severe violations of the elections process. The fact that the elections have been falsified appears clear as day. Usually calm coastal region of Russia is now furious.
The most authoritative regional newspaper "Pravda Severa" has published an interesting article entitled "The power of falsifications" prior to the elections. "In it the author states the following: "Elections scandals connected to the falsification of the final count tend to gain popularity across the globe: in America, Georgia, Abkhazia, Ukraine. Each one of these scandals is caused by strong desire of those at power to keep their power. In this situation the end justifies the means, indeed. Whereas the end symbolizes ultimate power and means - falsification of elections results. In case in 2000 American scandal has lead to a mere hand recount of paper ballots, in 2003, during Georgian elections, opposition forces have first seized the parliament and then the power itself. Ukraine is the most recent and most painful example of such falsification."
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