If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a 'peace conference,' you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes.
Joseph StalinRead
The people who cast the votes don't decide an election, the people who count the votes do.
Interpretation
Elections are influenced more by those who tally the votes than by those who cast them.
This quote by Joseph Stalin highlights the critical importance of the vote counting process in determining election outcomes. It suggests that the power to sway results lies not just in the act of voting, but fundamentally in who has the control and authority over the counting process, emphasizing potential manipulation or control behind the scenes in electoral politics.
In practice
During a debate on electoral integrity, one might use this quote.
If any foreign minister begins to defend to the death a 'peace conference,' you can be sure his government has already placed its orders for new battleships and airplanes.
I consider it completely unimportant who in the party will vote, or how; but what is extraordinarily important is this - who will count the votes, and how.
The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.
Print is the sharpest and the strongest weapon of our party.
You cannot make a revolution with silk gloves.
It takes a brave man to be a coward in the Red Army.
Every vote counts and every vote must be counted
We mean by 'politics' the people's business - the most important business there is.
If active or concerned citizens forfeit politics, they thereby abandon their society to its most mediocre and venal public servants
Well, Nigeria has played a constructive role in peacekeeping in various parts of West Africa. But unless and until Nigeria itself is democratic and respects human rights, it too may well be a source of much greater instability as political repression limits the ability of the people of Nigeria to achieve their full potential.
Fascism is a worldwide disease. Its greatest threat to the United States will come after the war, either via Latin America or within the United States itself.
When we're in the business of picking fights with our allies instead of working with them, that takes away from our strength in dealing with China.
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