Nation: Albanian Cliffhanger

If November’s off-year congressional elections follow the pattern, little more than half (55.4%) of the nation’s eligible voters will bother to show up at the polls. They should reflect on the example of the Albanian electorate. According to the Albanian news agency, exactly 100% of the country’s voters turned out last week to elect representatives to the People’s Assembly, local councils and the courts. Every single voter chose the Communist Party’s slate of candidates. Actually, it was a cliff-hanger compared to the Soviet election in which Joseph Stalin, possibly with the help of some of Gogol’s dead souls, is said to have collected 130% of the vote in his home district.