BEIRUT: Free Patriotic Movement leader Michel Aoun discounted Saad Hariri's absolute victory of all of Beirut's parliamentary seats, claiming citizens in the capital were "driven" during the elections. Speaking to reporters at his home in Rabieh, east of Beirut, the former army commander recently returned from 15 years of exile in France said the polls in Beirut were affected with the power of "petro-dollar," in reference to large amounts of money spent on Hariri's election campaign.Doesn't this sound familiar? I'm not sure fledgling democracies should be basing their systems on the US. Nothing like needing campaign finance reform before democracy really takes root.
This was the first round of elections held in Beirut only. Other areas will be voting within the next few weeks.
sure. they should base them on the european model. you know, if the elites do not like the outcome they just threaten to hold the elections over and over until the "right answer" is achieved.
ReplyDeleteor maybe you prefer the mugabe school of democracy.
glad to see you are no longer an absolutinist any more (/sarc off)
do dems have any other answer for politics than "campaign finance reform"?
ReplyDeleteworked great in 2004 ......... (/sarc off)
i guess we will never see a campaign like kerry's again. so pure. so virginal. not a dime spent. all word of mouth. (/SARC OFF)
A county in Oregon just passed a law requiring all campaign financing to come from public funds. Sounds good to me.
ReplyDeleteQuit making things up. There was no mention of "European model" or Mugabe.
Did you realize that many people have boycotted these elections? It's the Arab way. Instead of actually DOING something about the candidate they don't like, say, for instance, voting for another one, they just boycott. It's not helping their "democracies."
financing to come from public funds.
ReplyDeletethe left always turns to their diety, Government, for answers....
since you do not prefer the American model, i was offering alternatives ...
hey, you missed a bribery scandal involving politicians:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.tennessean.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050529/NEWS0201/505290415/1009/NEWS
oh wait, these are Democrats. i guess this one doesn't "count"?