Statistical Evidence of Russian Electoral Fraud?
By Neil Stevens Posted in Contra Tyrannum | Electoral Fraud | Russia | United Russia | Vladimir Putin — Comments (2) / Email this page » / Leave a comment »
Via Slashdot Science I found this article summarizing analyses of the latest Russian election. If this is even news, then clearly someone came up with some signs of fraud, and it shouldn't be any surprise which political party got the benefits of this alleged fraud...
Read On...
The most striking image plots the percentage of the vote each party got in various districts against the turnout in that district.
Most parties have a slightly negative correlation, but one party has a correlation of 0.9: United Russia, Vladimir Putin's party.
Combined with this, one finds out precisely how this fraud took place, too, when one looks at this next chart, plotting turnout rate against the rate of invalid ballots, a plot which interestingly slopes downward, when we have no reason to believe that fewer people will make voting errors in districts with higher turnout:
(Chart by Joseph Petviashvili)
If all this is true, it's hard to believe that something odd didn't happen. When the United Russia operatives were generating ballots and injecting them into the system, they forgot to find out what the standard invalid ballot rate was and duplicate that!
Russia's election was likely illegitimate. I now join the calls for US policy with respect to Russia to be adjusted accordingly.
Update: Isn't it interesting that in this region found by a commenter on Petviashvili's site (don't ask me its name; I don't read Russian), 17,779 people voted, and every single one of them was for United Russia?
« "CIBD" — Comments (7) | Hope Springs Eternal — Comments (0) »
Statistical Evidence of Russian Electoral Fraud? 2 Comments (0 topical, 2 editorial, 0 hidden) Post a comment »
Putin is a cheater, cheater, cheater. So what? This is no more our business than the hanging chads in Florida were Russia's business.
No good can come of this carping and meddling in Russia's internal affairs. Looking at the gameboard practically, we see two large but strategically vulnerable powers threatened by new and up and coming ones, namely China and Islam. We need Russia and Russia needs us.
Suppose instead of looking for more enemies, the US formed an "understanding" with Russia. Wealth. Military power. Energy reserves. A zone of mutual prosperity and defense belting the northern hemisphere. Above all , time. Time for us to find/invent our own energy supplies. Time for Russia to restock her population. Moscow and Washington could have it all. But noooo.....
Idiotic complacency on one side and blind resentment on the other, alas, stand in the way of making the deal both proud but vulnerable powers need to make.
Maddening.
Theres more than a few elections in this country that could use increased scrutiny. Washington state comes to mind.
______________________________
"Those who expect to reap the blessings of freedom must, like men, undergo the fatigue of supporting it."
-Thomas Paine: The American Crisis, No. 4, 1777