The art of crafting a convincing manifesto
From, where else, the 'Democratic People's Republic' of Korea, and from Kim Jong Il himself:
"Voters' meetings were held in all constituencies of the country to nominate candidates for deputies to the 12th Supreme People's Assembly...they nominated me as candidate for the post of deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly....
I extend my heartfelt thanks to the entire electorate of the country for their deep trust in me. True to President Kim Il Sung's noble will, I will live up to the expectations of the entire electorate by devoting my all to the prosperity of the country and happiness of the people, mixing myself with the service personnel and the people all the time.
All voters should take part in the election as one with high pride and honour of having created a new, brilliant history of our country, our motherland, under the leadership of the great leader and the great Party and true to their duty as citizens of the Republic, thereby rendering active contributions to consolidating our state and social system and people's government rock-solid.
"Voters' meetings were held in all constituencies of the country to nominate candidates for deputies to the 12th Supreme People's Assembly...they nominated me as candidate for the post of deputy to the Supreme People's Assembly....
I extend my heartfelt thanks to the entire electorate of the country for their deep trust in me. True to President Kim Il Sung's noble will, I will live up to the expectations of the entire electorate by devoting my all to the prosperity of the country and happiness of the people, mixing myself with the service personnel and the people all the time.
All voters should take part in the election as one with high pride and honour of having created a new, brilliant history of our country, our motherland, under the leadership of the great leader and the great Party and true to their duty as citizens of the Republic, thereby rendering active contributions to consolidating our state and social system and people's government rock-solid.
Note that he does not, anywhere, say 'vote for me', still less 'please vote for me', and astonishingly the open letter would seem to suggest that he thinks he has it in the bag. Astonishing.
I do hope that the news channels carry election night coverage, as judging from the 2003 results we should be in for a thriller - 687 seats for the Workers' Party of Korea, no change, and "According to the report by the Central Election Committee on August 4, 99.9 percent of all the eligible voters registered on the poll books went to the polls and 100 percent of the casters voted for the candidates of deputies to the SPA who had registered at all the constituencies". Source
The DPRK's release entitled 'The Superior Election System of the DPRK' notwithstanding, 99.9% is beyond absurd, as proxy voting is strictly banned, and as Snelling notes in 'Stranger than the Bullet' (Robson, 2002), "Even the most up-to-date and well-produced electoral register will yield at least a 2 or 3 per cent vote for the Dead Party". It also seems highly unlikely that just one in a thousand have not been correctly identified as 'mentally deranged' (their term, not mine), are bed-ridden up in the hills etc etc.
I do hope that the news channels carry election night coverage, as judging from the 2003 results we should be in for a thriller - 687 seats for the Workers' Party of Korea, no change, and "According to the report by the Central Election Committee on August 4, 99.9 percent of all the eligible voters registered on the poll books went to the polls and 100 percent of the casters voted for the candidates of deputies to the SPA who had registered at all the constituencies". Source
The DPRK's release entitled 'The Superior Election System of the DPRK' notwithstanding, 99.9% is beyond absurd, as proxy voting is strictly banned, and as Snelling notes in 'Stranger than the Bullet' (Robson, 2002), "Even the most up-to-date and well-produced electoral register will yield at least a 2 or 3 per cent vote for the Dead Party". It also seems highly unlikely that just one in a thousand have not been correctly identified as 'mentally deranged' (their term, not mine), are bed-ridden up in the hills etc etc.
Labels: DPRK-watch, psephology
This entry was posted
on Thursday, February 19, 2009 at 10:41 am.
You can skip to the end and leave a response.
» Post a Comment