Quotes about election
page 13

Peter Kropotkin photo
Tony Benn photo
Tony Benn photo
Nigel Farage photo

“If we don’t leave on October 31, then the scores you’ve seen for the Brexit Party today will be repeated in a general election, and we are getting ready for it.”

Nigel Farage (1964) British politician and former commodity broker

On the Brexit Party's performance in the https://www.nytimes.com/2019/05/26/world/europe/farage-brexit-party-uk-elections.html 2019 elections for European Parliament, 26 May 2019
2019

Roy Jenkins photo
Jair Bolsonaro photo

“They also talked about the civil war, Columbus Day, and the awesome Jair Bolsonaro, the soon-to-be-elected Generalisimo of Brazil.”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

American white supremacist David Duke on 9 October 2018, during his radio show. Dr Duke & Tom Kawczynski Celebrate the Exit of Ambassad(whore) Nikki Haley and Brazil’s Bolsonaro Brewing of Pro-White Revolution! https://davidduke.com/thursday181009/. DavidDuke.com (9 October 2018).

Jair Bolsonaro photo

“With such a CV I should not have even been elected as a municipal councilor. The people understood that an innocent was being shot at.”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

In an interview to Luciana Gimenez broadcasted on 7 May 2019. Racism 'rare' in Brazil, says far right Bolsonaro https://www.france24.com/en/20190508-racism-rare-brazil-says-far-right-bolsonaro. France 24 (8 May 2019).

Han Kuo-yu photo
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez photo
Clement Attlee photo
Joseph Wu photo

“The way forward (in Hong Kong) is genuine democratic elections, not violence in the streets and MTR (Mass Transit Railway) stations. The freedom and human rights of the people (of Hong Kong) must be protected.”

Joseph Wu (1954) Taiwanese politician

Joseph Wu (2019) cited in " Foreign minister urges genuine democratic elections in Hong Kong http://focustaiwan.tw/news/aipl/201907220012.aspx" on Focus Taiwan, 22 July 2019.

Edmund Burke photo
Amy Klobuchar photo

“At a time when we must heal the heart of our democracy and renew our commitment to the common good, I stand before you as the granddaughter of an iron ore miner, as the daughter of a teacher and a newspaperman, as the first woman elected to the United States Senate from the state of Minnesota, to announce my candidacy for president of the United States.”

Amy Klobuchar (1960) United States Senator from Minnesota

Said at her campaign launch in Minneapolis, Minnesota on 10 February 2019. Quoted by CBS News. Amy Klobuchar launches presidential bid, joining record number of women candidates https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amy-klobuchar-2020-live-stream-rally-to-kick-off-presidential-campaign-minneapolis-minnesota-live-stream-2019-02-10/ (10 February 2019). Retrieved 14 September 2019.
2019

James Eastland photo
Seneca the Younger photo
Yuval Noah Harari photo
Noam Chomsky photo
Gerard Batten photo
Narendra Modi photo
Narendra Modi photo
Rajendra Prasad photo
Nicola Sturgeon photo

“If I am elected, there may be an opportunity to change the tone for the better.”

Nicola Sturgeon (1970) First Minister of Scotland and leader of the Scottish National Party

Said while campaigning for the SNP leadership in 2014. Khaleeli, Homa (30 September 2014) Is post-referendum Scotland a feminist paradise? https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2014/sep/30/post-referendum-scotland-feminist-paradise on the Guardian website. Retrieved 23 July 2019.
2014

Theresa May photo
Johann Most photo
Johann Gottlieb Fichte photo
Imran Khan photo
Lee Yen-hsiu photo

“Transportation infrastructure should undergo a professional evaluation and should not be used as a bargaining chip for the election.”

Lee Yen-hsiu (1971) Taiwanese politician

Lee Yen-hsiu (2019) cited in " Ministry chooses route for high-speed rail extension http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/archives/2019/09/29/2003723091" on Taipei Times, 29 September 2019

Elizabeth Warren photo

“Argue the substance all you want, but why 22 days before a crucial election where we MUST win house and senate to save America, why did @SenWarren have to do her announcement now? Why can’t Dems ever stay focused???”

Elizabeth Warren (1949) 28th United States Senator from Massachusetts

Jim Messina, Democrat election strategist, on Warren's announcement of less than 1% Native American ancestry confirmed via DNA testing; Twitter message of October 15, 2018 https://twitter.com/Messina2012/status/1051851241561710594?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

John Wallis photo

“Let as many Numbers, as you please, be proposed to be Combined: Suppose Five, which we will call a b c d e. Put, in so many Lines, Numbers, in duple proportion, beginning with 1. The Sum (31) is the Number of Sumptions, or Elections; wherein, one or more of them, may several ways be taken. Hence subduct (5) the Number of the Numbers proposed; because each of them may once be taken singly. And the Remainder (26) shews how many ways they may be taken in Combination; (namely, Two or more at once.) And, consequently, how many Products may be had by the Multiplication of any two or more of them so taken. But the same Sum (31) without such Subduction, shews how many Aliquot Parts there are in the greatest of those Products, (that is, in the Number made by the continual Multiplication of all the Numbers proposed,) a b c d e.”

John Wallis (1616–1703) English mathematician

For every one of those Sumptions, are Aliquot Parts of a b c d e, except the last, (which is the whole,) and instead thereof, 1 is also an Aliquot Part; which makes the number of Aliquot Parts, the same with the Number of Sumptions. Only here is to be understood, (which the Rule should have intimated;) that, all the Numbers proposed, are to be Prime Numbers, and each distinct from the other. For if any of them be Compound Numbers, or any Two of them be the same, the Rule for Aliquot Parts will not hold.
Source: A Discourse of Combinations, Alterations, and Aliquot Parts (1685), Ch.I Of the variety of Elections, or Choice, in taking or leaving One or more, out of a certain Number of things proposed.

Ron Klain photo

“If you want to appoint someone to help stop the spread of a lethal contagion, you would never think of Klain. But if you want to contain the Ebola episode so it stays as quiet as possible until after the election, he is the right guy for the job. Good luck to us all.”

Ron Klain (1961) American lawyer

[Ed Rogers, http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/wp/2014/10/20/the-insiders-what-is-ron-klain-supposed-to-do-about-ebola/, The Insiders: What is Ron Klain supposed to do about Ebola?, Washington Post, October 20, 2014, October 21, 2014]

Shankar Dayal Sharma photo

“Not only that he was a spiritualist, a moralist, an educationist]], but he was a good administrator too. He had been elected as Vice President of India and in this capacity as chairman of the Rajya Sabha he created history by taking hard stand against an MP who embarrassed him.”

Shankar Dayal Sharma (1918–1999) Indian politician

Source: Commissions and Omissions by Indian Presidents and Their Conflicts with the Prime Ministers Under the Constitution: 1977-2001, P.202.

Shankar Dayal Sharma photo
K. R. Narayanan photo

“When he stood in queues to vote in general elections, a few people criticised this practice, saying that a head of state should not be seen taking sides in an election. But the overwhelming response was that the President had done a service to democracy.”

K. R. Narayanan (1920–2005) 9th Vice President and the 10th President of India

Venkitesh Ramakrishnan in: Citizen President K.R. Narayanan, 1920-2005. http://www.frontline.in/navigation/type=static&page=flonnet&rdurl=fl2224/stories/20051202005012500.htm, Frontline

Neelam Sanjiva Reddy photo
V. V. Giri photo

“He must always be remembered for a significant event in Indian History viz., when he appeared in Court as President of India when his election was in dispute.”

V. V. Giri (1894–1980) Indian politician and 4th president of India

Chief Justice Alladi Kuppuswamy in: P. 85
Presidents of India, 1950-2003

V. V. Giri photo
V. V. Giri photo

“Soon after his unusual election as the fourth President of India, he addressed Srimathi Indira Gandhi as his daughter.”

V. V. Giri (1894–1980) Indian politician and 4th president of India

Source: Presidents of India, 1950-2003, P.80

Alexander Lukashenko photo

“I wish luck to you and your nation that loves you, as the election results we can see testify.”

Alexander Lukashenko (1954) President of Belarus since 20 July 1994

Silvio Berlusconi in Minsk, as quoted in Results of the official visit of Silvio Berlusconi to Belarus http://www.belarus.by/en/press-center/news/results-of-the-official-visit-of-silvio-berlusconi-to-belarus_i_0000000549.html, 1 Dec. 2009, from belarus.by.

“We believe in a democratic society by governments freely and periodically elected by the people… We believe, in the virtue of hard work and that those who work harder in society should be given greater rewards… We believe that the world does not owe us a living and that we have to earn our keep.”

Sinnathamby Rajaratnam (1915–2006) Early life

Adapted from speech by S Rajaratnam, Minister for Foreign Affairs, at a dinner in honour of His Excellency Mr. Hans Dietrich Genscher, Minister for Foreign Affairs.
20 April 1977.

Dylan Moran photo

“Or Berlusconi, in Italy, right; the envy of the world, Italy, in terms of history, art and culture, 98 different political parties, and they still managed to elect him!”

Dylan Moran (1971) Irish actor and comedian

He’s so fucking crooked he sleeps on a spiral staircase! So thoroughly corrupt, every time he smiles an angel gets gonorrhoea! He's had so many face-lifts, his face has moved to the top of his head, you have to get on a step-ladder to watch him lie!
On Italian Prime Minister, Silvio Berlusconi.
What It Is (2009)

James Carville photo

“Elections are about fucking your enemies. Winning is about fucking your friends.”

James Carville (1944) political writer, consultant and United States Marine

James Carville – 1992, As quoted by Hunter S. Thompson, Better Than Sex, p. 189

Bill Maher photo
Martin Luther King, Jr. photo
Richard Dawkins photo
Joshua Wong photo

“Under the chilling effects generated by Beijing and Hong Kong governments, we are strongly aware how they arrest activists no matter whether they behave progressively or moderately...All we ask for is just to urge Beijing and Hong Kong governments to withdraw the bill, stop police brutality and respond to our calls for a free election.”

Joshua Wong (1996) Hong Kong activist, Secretary-general of Demosistō

August 30, 2019 Hong Kong activists arrested including Joshua Wong in crackdown on protests https://www.reuters.com/article/us-hongkong-protests/hong-kong-activists-arrested-including-joshua-wong-in-crackdown-on-protests-idUSKCN1VK02X?feedType=RSS&feedName=topNews&utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+reuters%2FtopNews+%28News+%2F+US+%2F+Top+News%29

Bernie Sanders photo

“The real issue is not whether you're black or white, whether you're a woman or a man. In my view, a woman could be elected president of the United States. The real issue is whose side are you on? Are you on the side of workers and poor people, or are you on the side of big money and the corporations?”

Bernie Sanders (1941) American politician, senator for Vermont

1988, quoted in * 2020-01-14
Video emerges of Sanders saying in 1988 a woman could be elected president
Zack Budryk
The Hill
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/478299-video-emerges-of-sanders-saying-a-woman-could-be-elected-president-in-1988
1980s

Donald J. Trump photo

“They're trying to scare everybody, from meetings, cancel the meetings, close the schools—you know, destroy the country. And that's okay, as long as we can win the election.”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Fundraiser, Mar-a-Lago, quoted in * 2020-03-15

Trump says media 'scare' coverage of coronavirus response OK 'as long as we can win the election': Report

Daniel Chaitin

Washington Examiner

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/trump-says-media-scare-coverage-of-coronavirus-response-okay-as-long-as-we-can-win-the-election-report
2020s, 2020, March

Marilyn Ferguson photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Donald J. Trump photo
Ralph Nader photo

“Democratic elections require that votes are supreme, not big-money. They require contested candidacies, not a two-party duopoly that increasingly reflects the same commercial interests.”

Ralph Nader (1934) American consumer rights activist and corporate critic

"American Mythology and the Loss of Democracy" (2018)

William Blum photo
Anna J. Cooper photo

“Respect for woman, the much lauded chivalry of the Middle Ages, meant what I fear it still means to some men in our own day—respect for the elect few among whom they expect to consort.”

Anna J. Cooper (1858–1964) African-American author, educator, speaker and scholar

Source: A Voice from the South by a Black Woman of the South (1892), p. 14

Noam Chomsky photo
Joe Biden photo
Wendell Berry photo

“By this time, the era of cut-and-run economics ought to be finished. Such an economy cannot be rationally defended or even apologized for. The proofs of its immense folly, heartlessness, and destructiveness are everywhere. Its failure as a way of dealing with the natural world and human society can no longer be sanely denied. That this economic system persists and grows larger and stronger in spite of its evident failure has nothing to do with rationality or, for that matter, with evidence. It persists because, embodied now in multinational corporations, it has discovered a terrifying truth: If you can control a people’s economy, you don’t need to worry about its politics; its politics have become irrelevant. If you control people’s choices as to whether or not they will work, and where they will work, and what they will do, and how well they will do it, and what they will eat and wear, and the genetic makeup of their crops and animals, and what they will do for amusement, then why should you worry about freedom of speech? In a totalitarian economy, any "political liberties" that the people might retain would simply cease to matter. If, as is often the case already, nobody can be elected who is not wealthy, and if nobody can be wealthy without dependence on the corporate economy, then what is your vote worth? The citizen thus becomes an economic subject.”

Wendell Berry (1934) author

"Conserving Forest Communities"
Another Turn of the Crank (1996)

Lai Pin-yu photo

“I’ve told myself over and over during this (Republic of China 2020 legislative) election that: "You can't pretend to be someone else."”

Lai Pin-yu (1992) Taiwanese social activist

I hope that voters can see my regular self, and that the Lai Pin-yu during election campaigning is the same as the regular Lai Pin-yu.

Lai Pin-yu (2020) cited in " From the Sunflower Movement to the DPP: An Interview with Lai Pin-yu https://newbloommag.net/2020/01/03/lai-pin-yu-interview/" on New Bloom, 11 January 2020.

Hugo Black photo
John Morley, 1st Viscount Morley of Blackburn photo
Nikita Khrushchev photo

“We cannot expect the Americans to jump from capitalism to communism, but we can aid their elected leaders in giving them small doses of socialism until suddenly they awake to find that they have communism.”

Nikita Khrushchev (1894–1971) First Secretary of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union

Allegedly said shortly before his 1959 visit to the United States. Subsequent investigation by the Library of Congress and the US Information Agency found no source. The Communist Party of the Soviet Union (following Lenin in State and Revolution) considered socialism a necessary transitional stage to communism, and Khrushchev affirmed this position in regard to existing communist-led states, not the United States. See " Khrushchev Could Have Said It http://speccoll.library.arizona.edu/online-exhibits/files/original/809230f1ccf3f96b76341d3a02b6506b.pdf" by Morris K. Udall.
Disputed

Arundhati Roy photo

“Are democratic governments accountable to the people who elected them? And, critically, is the public in democratic countries responsible for the actions...?”

Arundhati Roy (1961) Indian novelist, essayist

Arundhati Roy: Tide? Or Ivory Snow? Public Power in the Age of Empire, Speech, San Francisco, California https://www.democracynow.org/2004/8/23/public_power_in_the_age_of (16 August 2004)
Speeches

Donald J. Trump photo

“This election is a total sham and a travesty. We are not a democracy!”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2010s, 2012

“[Indian Muslims are taught] “to vote communally, think communally, listen only to communal election speeches, judge the delegates communally...express their grievances communally.”

Wilfred Cantwell Smith (1916–2000) Canadian academic

W.C. Smith, 'Modern Islam in India': as quoted in Arun Shourie. “Falling Over Backwards.”
Modern Islam in India: A Social Analysis (1943, 1946, 1963), Victor Gollancz, London, ISBN 0-8364-1338-5

Donald J. Trump photo

“I won the Election!”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

again (this time not in ALL CAPS) via tweet https://twitter.com/realDonaldTrump/status/1328334945148952576 November 16, 2020, with the all too-common warning by twitter : Multiple sources called this election differently
2020s, 2020, November

Melania Trump photo

“The American people deserve fair elections. Every legal - not illegal - vote should be counted. We must protect our democracy with complete transparency.”

Melania Trump (1970) Slovenian model, wife of Donald Trump and First Lady of the United States

via tweet https://twitter.com/FLOTUS/status/1325509832594616328 On November 8, 2020
2020

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez photo

“If we are only organizing for elections, we are not going to win the world that we need...No one politician is the answer. No one president is the answer. You are the answer, mass movements are the answer.”

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (1989) American politician

via tweet https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1324895073776054273 on November 6, 2020
Twitter Quotes (2020), November 2020

Chelsea Clinton photo

“Co-signed as an American. We should expect all elected officials, regardless of party, and all public figures to not traffic in anti-Semitism.”

Chelsea Clinton (1980) daughter of Bill and Hillary Clinton

10 February 2019 https://twitter.com/chelseaclinton/status/1094773371823366145 response to Batya Ungar-Sargon telling Ilhan Omar "Please learn how to talk about Jews in a non-anti-Semitic way."

Donald J. Trump photo

“The U.S. Supreme Court has been totally incompetent and weak on the massive Election Fraud that took place in the 2020 Presidential Election. We have absolute PROOF, but they don't want to see it - No 'standing', they say. If we have corrupt elections, we have no country!”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

Disputed tweet, quoted by * 2020-12-26
With less than a month left in office, Trump lashes out at 'totally incompetent' Supreme Court for refusing to overturn his election loss
Connor Perrett
Business Insider
2020s, 2020, December
Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/trump-supreme-court-totally-incompetent-for-refusing-to-overturn-election-2020-12?r=US&IR=T

William Ewart Gladstone photo
Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury photo

“The elective principle—government by representation—is not an Eastern idea; it does not fit Eastern traditions or Eastern minds.”

Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (1830–1903) British politician

Source: Speech in the House of Lords (6 March 1890), quoted in The Times (7 March 1890), p. 6

Neil Kinnock photo
Neil Kinnock photo
Mitch McConnell photo
Vasily Nebenzya photo

“If anything represents a threat to peace and security, it is the shameless and aggressive actions of the United States and their allies to oust a legitimately elected president of Venezuela”

Vasily Nebenzya (1962) Russian diplomat

Nicolas Maduro
Quoted in US attempting to engineer coup d’etat in Venezuela: Russia, PressTV https://www.presstv.com/Detail/2019/01/26/586867/Nebenzya-Russia-Pompeo-Security-Council-Venezuela (26 January 2019)

John Strachey photo
Jon Ossoff photo
Jair Bolsonaro photo

“Racism is rare in Brazil. I'm fed up with this mania of always pitting blacks against whites, gays against heterosexuals. People say I'm homophobic, racist, fascist, xenophobic, but I won the election. [...] If I was racist, what would I have done on seeing a black fall into the water? I'd have folded my arms.”

Jair Bolsonaro (1955) Brazilian president elect

In an interview to Luciana Gimenez broadcasted on 7 May 2019. Racism 'rare' in Brazil, says far right Bolsonaro https://www.france24.com/en/20190508-racism-rare-brazil-says-far-right-bolsonaro. France 24 (8 May 2019).
2019

Justin Barrett photo
Justin Barrett photo
J. Howard Moore photo
Michael Moore photo

“Stop this war! Shame on you Hobbits! Shame on you! This is a fictitious war! This Lord was not elected by the popular”

Michael Moore (1954) American filmmaker, author, social critic, and liberal activist

a computer-generated Oliphaunt steps on Moore, crushing him
In a humorous sendup of Moore's previous acceptance speech for Best Documentary Feature at the 2003 Oscars. Moore himself delivered the lines in the opening act of the 2004 Oscars, while standing in front of a greenscreen which had the Battle of the Pelennor Fields scene from The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King playing on it; a battle which was, itself, literally fictitious. (23 March 2004)
2004

Elizabeth Cheney photo

“The 2020 presidential election was not stolen. Anyone who claims it was is spreading THE BIG LIE, turning their back on the rule of law, and poisoning our democratic system.”

Elizabeth Cheney (1966) American lawyer

[Alex Rogers and Manu Raju, https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/03/politics/liz-cheney-criticism-trump-big-lie/index.html, Cheney calls out Trump's latest attempt to promote 'BIG LIE' amid criticism from within her own party, cnn.com, May 3, 2021, May 7, 2021]

Giles Rooke photo

“The Crown used to call a Parliament annually, but there was not an annual election. These words, annuo parliamento, relate to the time of their meeting, and not their election.”

Giles Rooke (1743–1808) British judge (1743-1808)

Trial of Redhead alias Yorke (1795), 25 How. St. Tr. 1081.

Salman Rushdie photo
Donald J. Trump photo

“We won the election twice. I mean, you know, think about it ...”

Donald J. Trump (1946) 45th President of the United States of America

2021, March 2021

“If an election can cause us to lose everything, what is it exactly that we have in the first place?”

Michael Horton (theologian) (1964) American theologian

What Are Evangelicals Afraid of Losing? (2018)

Mike Gravel photo
Charles Coughlin photo

“One thing is sure. Democracy is doomed. This is our last election. It is fascism or communism. We are at the crossroads—I take the road to fascism.”

Charles Coughlin (1891–1979) Catholic priest, radio commentator

As quoted in “Coughlin, Lemke, and the Union Party,” Dale Kramer, Minneapolis, Farmers Book Store, 1936. Also in “What’s Behind the Christian Front?” Norman Thomas, New York, Workers Defense League, 1939, p. 15 http://www.ajcarchives.org/AJC_DATA/Files/THR-CF6.PDF

Yingluck Shinawatra photo

“If you call an election we have to ask whether the protesters would be satisfied.”

Yingluck Shinawatra (1967) Thai businesswoman and politician

"Thailand's Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra on protests" in BBC https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-asia-25155406 (29 November 2013)

Thokozani Khuphe photo
Gregory Palamas photo