• 95% of the vote for Kazakhstan’s President Nazarbayev source

• » An electoral red flag: International elections monitors are crying foul over what took place in Kazakhstan yesterday, as incumbent President Nursultan Nazarbayev (who’s been in power since the 1980s) soared to this startling vote tally. It’s being reported (albeit from an unnamed source) that students were threatened with expulsion if they didn’t head to the polls. We’re reminded of a point about show elections made by Christopher Hitchens; why do these leaders always desire such a staggering percentage of the vote? It all but screams a corrupt, undemocratic, strong-armed process- the leaders in question could lay much more claim to credibility if they tried to manipulate themselves to, say, a 55-45 win instead.

Posted by Chris Tognotti • Permalink