Laurent Kretz

Elections are a much simpler process in a single-party system. Of course. As the president, you designate who you want to succeed to you, and “boom”, you’re done.

You’re allowed to designate your brother (as in the case of Raul Castro), your son (as Bashar Al-Asad in Syria) or even yourself for eternity (as the “Eternal President of the Republic” in North Korea).

In those cases, elections (if any …) are quite straight-forward. Declare who will replace you, have people vote for your protégé (or imprisoned as independent lawyers and judges in Pakistan during the 2008 elections, or killed as some political opponents in Guatemala for the 2007 elections, …), and you’re done.

When you’re in a republic (multi-party), it’s a real headache. I am so sorry for you, tyrannic leader of a developed country who want to keep your “political blood” in power. So if you want to keep all the power in your party but are battling with opponent parties, you’re facing quite a delicate issue.

Well, “delicate” can take various meanings and interpretations.

In Russia, Dmitri Medvedev has been chosen as candidate for the United Russia party for the upcoming elections, handpicked by Putin to represent the party. He didn’t have to debate, nor did Putin have to suffer pressure from his party members. In Russia, there are no Super-Delegates, there is only Super-Putin.

Then, Putin has to suffer competition: there are other political parties … To solve this thorny problem, there are a few simple solutions: slow down bureaucratic processes during candidates registration to limit their number, jail opponents if they dare to say that the campaign is not democratic, befriend with (or eliminate) industry leaders and take control of the media.

Elections in Russia sure seem simpler than in the U.S. Why do we give ourselves such a hassle ??!!

Note: Russia, Pakistan and Guatemala aren’t single-party systems.

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