International elections

[David]

[ronrat]

Try Se Asia as a basket case.

Thailand. Most popular candidate banned by the King (her brother) from standing. A new constitution where 30 percent of the senate seats are reserved for military star officers who are appointed.

Cambodia. Opposition main party banned by Hun Sen

Phillipines. Largely ruled by 3 or 4 families and currently run buy a homicidal maniac,

Laos and Vietnam. Run by communist party delegates. Don't see a lot of effect on the governments life of everyday people but basically Chinese puppets on foreign policy etc.

Indonesia. Similar to Phillipines but they are self serving the military and the Javanese. Any christians are tried on trumped up charges but behind the scenes Suharto and Soekarno families still prominent.

Malaysia. Hideously corrupt nad false charges (sodomy etc) happen all the time to give the impression muslims rule but the hierarchy are thieves beyond belief. First to call the moral high ground on others.

Brunei. Just listen to sharia law while all work is done by foreigners. No need to vote. British appointed sultans family rule.

Singapore. Straight as a die but but if not related to Lee Kuan yew you won't win.

Myanmar. Can have free elections but if you are not the right group forget it.

[David]

Israel's up tomorrow. Netanyahu's on shaky ground after a wake of corruption scandals (although, sadly, being a fascist mass-murderer doesn't seem to have dented his standing too much). You'd think nobody could be worse than him, and you'd be right: his opponent is the more politically progressive former army general Benny Gantz, whose "Blue and White Alliance" supports recognising minorities, implementing some further separations of church and state and negotiating with the Palestinian Authority. At the moment, it looks like it'll be close, with Netanyahu still a slight favourite to form minority government.

A complicating factor is that Gantz has been #MeToo'd (see second link below...), though it's difficult to say whether that will significantly affect his campaign. Frankly, I think this is a perfect example of how you have to put politics over personality, as no matter the truth of those allegations, who leads Israel is quite literally a matter of life or death.

https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/ele ... -1.7091391

https://www.jpost.com/Israel-News/Gantz ... yes-581951

Edit: Here’s a more detailed analysis of the election’s possible outcomes:

https://www.newyorker.com/news/daily-co ... i-election

[Pies4shaw]

Netanyahu seems to have been returned for a fifth consecutive term. He will be in coalition with further-right parties (who knew there was anything further right than Likud in Israel?).

[watt price tully]

Netanyahu seems to have been returned for a fifth consecutive term. He will be in coalition with further-right parties (who knew there was anything further right than Likud in Israel?).

Unfortunaely Israel has proportional representation meaning small parties with only a few seats can get power. Right wingers and crazy right wingers get only a few seats and power way beyond their numbersmand join in a coalition. Bibi is is self preservation mode and will do anythying for power and for his self interest the racist pr*ck.

Arab voting turnout was very low: shooting themselves in the foot

Labour has vanished.

However, it looks like Bibi the lying bastard won't get away with corruption as the coalition is unlikely to allow his request for immunity from prosescution that he has been wanting for a long time.

The religious nutters want to stack the supreme court and this is a huge danger to Israel's separation of powers: they're demanding the justice and education portfolios amongst other things.

[stui magpie]

[David]

Even though he’s been in power for a while, I can’t say I have much of a read on Jokowi yet. Anyone know how he compares to the military-backed autocrats of the past?

[stui magpie]

He comes from a much more humble background apparently, so I also have no read on him but I'd prefer him to his opponent.

Prabowo Subianto, a millionaire businessman, former military general and son-in-law of dictator Suharto. Prabowo's military service was controversial in East Timor, West Papua and during the anti-Suharto riots in Jakarta in 1998.

[stui magpie]

In the mean time, around 1/8 of the worlds population is currently voting in the Indian general election.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/you-t ... 51d52.html

That's a fkn lot of people.

[David]

While I'm not a huge fan of family dynasties in politics, the latest Gandhi seems okay. Would be happy to see Modi go.

[pietillidie]

Netanyahu seems to have been returned for a fifth consecutive term. He will be in coalition with further-right parties (who knew there was anything further right than Likud in Israel?).

Unfortunaely Israel has proportional representation meaning small parties with only a few seats can get power. Right wingers and crazy right wingers get only a few seats and power way beyond their numbersmand join in a coalition. Bibi is is self preservation mode and will do anythying for power and for his self interest the racist pr*ck.

Arab voting turnout was very low: shooting themselves in the foot

Labour has vanished.

However, it looks like Bibi the lying bastard won't get away with corruption as the coalition is unlikely to allow his request for immunity from prosescution that he has been wanting for a long time.

The religious nutters want to stack the supreme court and this is a huge danger to Israel's separation of powers: they're demanding the justice and education portfolios amongst other things.

There is only one blessing here as I can see it. Now the madness of the far right has outdone itself, this means there is no excuse for people failing to distinguish between crazed nationalist racists and everyday Israelis. This is one less crack for anti-Semitism to hide in.

[David]

[stui magpie]

Well the Indonesian election seems to have gone off fairly well so far, except for the poor buggers tasked with counting the votes.

Ten days after Indonesia held the world's biggest single-day elections, more than 270 election staff have died, mostly of fatigue-related illnesses, an official says.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2019-04-28/ ... s/11052960

As of Saturday night, 272 election officials had died, mostly from overwork-related illnesses, while 1,878 others had fallen ill, Arief Priyo Susanto, spokesperson of the General Elections Commission (KPU), said.

[watt price tully]

In the mean time, around 1/8 of the worlds population is currently voting in the Indian general election.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/asia/you-t ... 51d52.html

That's a fkn lot of people.

Imagine doing the recount?

[ronrat]

It would be hard pressed if not impossible to find an Indonesian General who is not super rich. The USA gave Jakarta a ton of money to build a highway from the airport to South Jakarta where the US embassy is. Aside from the usual skimming of the contracts for road building etc they also forced the people in the way out, paid them a pittance for the land and sold it at enormous profit. Then to top it off they have put tollways in. Every General had one. Some 300 metres from each other with no exits in between. The military vehicles, government cars and us embassy cars are exempt. So your trip is stuffed up by stopping every 6 minutes to pay 1000 rupiah (10 cents) for the tolls.

A mate was playing in a proam in Kalaimantan and a 1 star General turned up with his caddy/staff officer in a taxi. The signature hole is a par 3 that very golfers can reach in one due to the enormous creek and the tiny green. Ford Indonesia put a hole in one prize of a new car up for a prize. My mate was playing with the Brigadier. Peter said he struggled to hit it 100 metres never mind straight. At the tee box the Indos organised a distraction and everyone told to look the other way. Brigadier swings and seconds later the unmistakeable sound of tree and golf ball is heard. Brigadier caddy says great shot. Of course a ball exactly the same is found in the hole. At the presentations the Brigs wife turns up with her 2 small children in a taxi. Ford present the keys to him which remarkably had been supplied in his favourite colour and fitted with 2 kids seats in the back. Months later he was promoted and sent to Jakarta where he chaired the committee for the next range of staff cars. Ford won despite Toyota being cheaper and with more workshop options and dealerships on the island.