Biometric voters list is one of the sure quick
fixes in the endless list of preconditions for a free, fair and transparent
election. Biometrics will almost eliminate double voters’ registrations as well
as fake/nonliving registered voters. I
completely agree it will contribute to a small percentage to an election
performance. If you think you got the
magic solution to your electoral fraud, put on your reading lenses and read on.
THE only poll that counts, supposedly, is Election
Day. But for the sophisticated vote-rigger that is terrible advice. Election
day is too late. If you go around beating up your opponents’ voters, stuffing
ballot boxes and making up results, someone somewhere is bound to complain. All
those foreign busybodies will take you to task. It enrages the crowd and it
dents your reputation.
It is also unnecessary. If you set about rigging
the vote well in advance, you can have an election that looks all right on the
outside but guarantees the result you want. And nobody will be able to object.
The secret is to obey the rules—having first written them yourself.
It all starts with television, where most voters
(especially the poorer and less-educated) get most of their news. Don’t clamp
down completely—it makes you look weak. Tolerate small, ill-funded opposition
outlets (not least so that you have an idea yourself of what is going on). But
make sure that you or your allies control all the main television channels.
Television news should trumpet your successes, portraying you as statesmanlike,
and perhaps also enjoying manly sports and cuddly charity work.
This makes you the dominant brand in voters’
minds. Your propaganda machine should also highlight the opposition’s foreign
links, making them look disloyal and alien. It should play up splits and
divisions and any personal foibles (your own vices, meanwhile, must remain
state secrets).
This makes the next stages easier. Gerrymandering
is an excellent tactic. In a parliamentary election, corral your opponents’
votes into places where they pile up uselessly, while making sure that yours
are spread across plenty of marginal constituencies. Then sort out the
electoral registers: you need tough registration requirements for the voters
who dislike you. You can count on votes from prisoners, army conscripts and
others, so make sure they are registered en masse.
With little funding and inability to send
representative in all polling stations, it makes your work even easier. Where
some poor opposition representative show up at the polling stations, just buy
them over and move on with the process. After all what is the mount they will
get from the opposition compared to what you give them from state funds?
The laws governing political parties are in your
hands too: make them burdensome. That will sap the opposition’s energies—and if
they make a single slip-up, you can always have their candidates struck from
the ballot. Your own party will control a mighty bureaucratic machine and will
meet the requirements easily. A sophisticated twist on this is to create your
own tame opposition parties, in several flavours. They will distract attention
from your real rivals.
You will have to allow some foreigners into your
country on polling day. So make it easy for the right ones (your ideological
soul mates and those from other autocratic countries). Nosy nit-pickers from
the West can come too, but only at the last moment, so they have little time to
get organised. Discredit local election-monitoring outfits as foreign-funded
and partisan. Trumpet your fans’ verdict at home: it will offset the complaints
from those foreigners who, your television channel can argue, are secretly bent
on doing your country down.
Stuff and nonsense
Do not waste much time campaigning. Anything
beyond the odd triumphant rally makes you seem like a mere politician. Instead
say you are too busy minding the affairs of state—and make sure you are shown
on television doing so.
On polling day hand out free food and booze in
poor areas. In places that will not vote for you, have the polling stations
open late and close early. If necessary, they can run out of ballot papers.
Long queues are a deterrent to busy people.
As insurance, you need to be able to fiddle the
results. A computerised system which is apparently secure but actually
accessible is ideal. If ballot-boxes are used, make sure they can be stored
overnight in a discreet location where, if all else fails, you can add and
subtract votes as necessary. If you get caught, say provocateurs are trying to
discredit you.
None of this helps you run the country when you
win. But who said politics was easy?
Compiled and complemented from Economist
Christian Tanyi
LUKMEF
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