Ukraine and democracy
Wednesday, December 01, 2004
Those poor Ukrainians just don't get it, do they? After long years suffering under Polish tyranny, Tsarist tyranny, fascist tyranny, Stalinist tyranny and, finally, some quasi-communist quasi tyranny, they expect voting to be fair.
Here's what happened. Exit polls showed that the opposition candidate was a clear winner. When the votes were counted, however, it was obvious a serious mistake had been made somewhere because the 'incumbent' candidate was now the winner. Ballots had been destroyed, miscounted, and mislaid.
The US has issued a statement expressing concern about the verdict.
The US! There's nowhere left for satire to go after that. Maybe the Democrats should start again in Kiev. Given their taste for protest and standing up to the Republican hijack of their country they could just call themselves the Chicken Kiev party.
Here's what happened. Exit polls showed that the opposition candidate was a clear winner. When the votes were counted, however, it was obvious a serious mistake had been made somewhere because the 'incumbent' candidate was now the winner. Ballots had been destroyed, miscounted, and mislaid.
The US has issued a statement expressing concern about the verdict.
The US! There's nowhere left for satire to go after that. Maybe the Democrats should start again in Kiev. Given their taste for protest and standing up to the Republican hijack of their country they could just call themselves the Chicken Kiev party.
