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From: simon@elwood.DEC (Product Safety 237-3521)
Newsgroups: net.politics
Subject: Re: Electoral Comparison
Message-ID: <4143@decwrl.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 6-Nov-84 13:15:24 EST
Article-I.D.: decwrl.4143
Posted: Tue Nov  6 13:15:24 1984
Date-Received: Thu, 8-Nov-84 04:03:41 EST
Sender: daemon@decwrl.UUCP
Organization: DEC Engineering Network
Lines: 81

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.