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Observation mission praises Falklanders on referendum process and their democratic will

Tuesday, March 12th 2013 - 07:29 UTC
Full article 38 comments

The International Observation Mission (RIOM) congratulated the Falklands for the ‘free and fair referendum process’ reflecting the democratic will of the Falkland Islanders voters, and for its execution in accordance with international standards and local laws. Read full article

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  • Britworker

    Fair, open, honest, reflecting the will of the people, democratic? Surely this can't be a place that has any connection with South America.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 08:04 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Doveoverdover

    “the successful conduct of the referendum on self determination held in the Falkland Islands....”

    I could have sworn this opinion seeking Referendum was on staying as a possession of the UK as per the 2008 Constitution or not. Strange that these independent observers have interpreted it in this way. One might almost think they had an agenda of their own, those two US citizens in charge.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 08:23 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Joe Bloggs

    2
    Have a drink on us.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Schweppes-LLB.jpg

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 08:37 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • HansNiesund

    @2
    Are you implying that the result may have been fiddled?

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 08:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • LEPRecon

    @2 DoD

    Ah the smell of desperation in air....

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 08:38 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Escoses Doido

    99.8%

    How d'ya like them apples Christina!

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 08:40 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Doveoverdover

    @2 Not at all. I'm saying that the veneer of independence of the ad hoc RIOM is very thin indeed and sometimes leaves exposed the reality that lies beneath. The need to fall back on a RIOM that is unable to be identified openly with any credible election monitoring organisation points to a lack of willingness for that sort of organisation to be involved in the Referendum. I can guess at the reasons (relating to future funding and claims of political partiality). If there are links with IRI in the US these will come out eventually, particularly if CANDEM deny being the brokers as the 2i/c claimed in an interview.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 09:30 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Anbar

    Doveoverdover - why dont you stop pretending to be a Brit, everybody knows that you are nothing but an Argentine sock-puppet.

    And as a, proven, sock-puppet your comments are meaningless and useless.

    Yet one more attempt to discredit the referendum because you all know its another nail in the coffin of CFK chances of tkaing over the Falklands.

    Now go back to sock-puppet land, stop pretending to be British and stop trying to run-down a referendum that has firmly and irrevocably put Argentine in its place.

    The Falklands belong to the Falklands Islanders.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 10:20 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • HansNiesund

    @7
    So you do accept that the referendum has been conducted fairly and freely, then?

    Your complaint is only that the referendum might have been a little controversial?

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 10:26 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Doveoverdover

    @7 The Referendum as been conducted fairly and freely over the past two days. The socialisation of the Referendum within the community might be subject to a little criticism once the euphoria subsides, given the absence of anyone prepared to expose, let alone champion, the argument for a NO vote but that's politics.

    My complaint has always been that it was a badly thought through tactic that has been mishandled by the UK Government. Given the preamble, the question and the outcome , it will do nothing positive towards getting the Falkland Islands off the NSGT list. Nor will it help in securing the resources of this United Kingdom territory for the benefit of the United Kingdom electorate of which I am a member. Members of the right wing of the US Republican Party and their supporters will no doubt see things differently, as might their noble friends.

    I have to congratulate Gavin Short and Dick Sawle for their singular success in conning Jeremy Browne into agreeing to it. I hope Mr Browne shortly comes to see his mistake from the backbenches of the House until the electorate of Taunton have the opportunity to find a replacement representative.

    I don't care what Argentina thinks, even though they are the only State other than the UK to get a mention in the preamble, but I will be watching their reaction with interest.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 11:09 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • LEPRecon

    @10 - DoD

    The Argentines were invited to put their arugment forwards, but they declined.

    The Falkland Islands Government offered, so they have done all that was required in international law, it's not their fault that Argentina didn't want to play.

    You are entitled to your opinion, but you pretend to be British when you're not. You don't write like a British person, and you make mistakes that no native British person would make.

    You were never in the RN either. We all know that, and it's about time you conceded defeat, and crawled back to your La Campora paymasters.

    Also whether the FIG hold a referendum is up to them and not the business of the British Government (that's what self governing means). I find it strange that someone can be so stupid that this fact doesn't appear to sink in.

    The British Government have no say in how the Falkland are run, they only assist with Defence and Foreign policy, which is done in consultation with the Falkanders.

    Oh and don't bother to do your usual thing and bring up the Governor, because quite frankly you have no idea about the Governor's role. You read the words and then deliberately mis-interpret them, not taking into account the spirit of the words and of British law.

    The Governor is the Queens representative, not the UK governments representative, just like the Govenor's in Australia, Canada and New Zealand. The Queen's representative, but the UK government has no say over them.

    Perhaps you should go away and study UK law, and you will understand just how far off the mark you actually come with your deliberate (?) misinterpretation of it and the constitution.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 11:55 am - Link - Report abuse 0
  • GeoffWard2

    I don't think it is polite to call Dover a 'sock-puppet'.
    This infers that he is being manipulated by a hand stuck up somewhere between his legs.
    It is much more polite to just call him a 'puppet' - where the politician(s) pull his strings to make him do/say what they want.

    He may not be a puppet at all! Perhaps his thoughts and words are entirely his own.
    I have to believe there are such people, for it would be too much to bear to find that I am the only one without gloves and strings.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 12:04 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Think

    Ok I confess....
    I'm GeoffWard2....

    ;-)

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 12:11 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • HansNiesund

    @10
    Ok, so if the referendum had been conducted freely and fairly, then it seems rather redundant to look for reasons to call into question the independence of the observers.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 12:47 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Anbar

    “”“”He may not be a puppet at all! Perhaps his thoughts and words are entirely his own.“”“

    He offered ”proof” that he was legitimate, sadly that proof, when investigated, turned out to show that he was making it all up.... (kinda BIG TIME backfire! lol )

    “his” account wasnt used for sometime after the last exposure, but they obviously seem to Think that enough time has now passed that the sock-puppetry can be resumed.

    But lets not beat around the bush: the DoverOverDover account has been proven to be fake, not suspected, but proven: regardless of whose hand is up his sock; the “person” behind the account is fictional.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 12:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Joe Bloggs

    15
    Ouch!

    DoD, Anbar doesn't seem to like you very much at all.

    Is Mrs Dod back from Waitrose yet? Let us all know when she's safe and sound won't you.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 12:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Mick23

    Congratulations to the islanders. It seems as they are now acquiring the global recognition that they deserve. Shame on Argentina and all of the RG moaners who like to spout their rhetoric. The Falklander's have been generations living in a place where barely a single RG would ever want to go. Beyond that they have made a good go at it. What does Argentina want? Not to live there, that is for sure. They might like the resources, but the way in which they run their businesses they would never be able to get anything out of the ground. If they we smart, which they seem adamant to show that they are not, they would fix the increasing problems at home on the mainland and quit bickering about something they use as a distraction from their day to day neurosis. Accept the fact that these people and others of there own countrymen are not satisfied with the way in which Buenos Aires manages the country and would happily secede. Why in heavens name would anyone want to be governed by a society of politicos who have nothing more to think about than there own well being. Historically the government has always been a case of “I am great, you are not” “Let me fill my pockets at your expense and we'll all be happy” ... Pull you heads out from that dark place and find a solution to your own problems before trying to inflict them upon someone else...

    Pathetic!!

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 01:01 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Raul

    Pathetic and pitiful observers. They have no category. No seriously. I saw the website www.RIOM-MIOR.com.Los observers do not represent anyone.

    I thought I would have a higher institutional quality. But the opposite is true. is an organization pays. Unfortunately, what is observed, the referendum is a plagiarism. According to the newspaper Clarin voters were not required documentation. voted only with the name. He had no serious rigor. All the elements of the referendum gives the impression that it is a patriotic fraud.
    Beyond this it is clear that lack any serious institutional support. is really embarrassing.

    At the end of the Decolonization Committee of the United Nations was right. This gives more strength to the arguments Argentinos.
    The referendum in the UK in the Malvinas Islands is a “political maneuver” totally lacking legitimacy.

    See the link below.

    http://en.mercopress.com/2012/06/16/c24-chair-calls-falklands-referendum-political-ploy-praises-argentine-president

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 01:16 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Anbar

    Raul - I know you are only following Argentine Government policy, but trying to rubbish the referendum by calling into question its observers its pretty pathetic.

    Just face facts: the Islanders dont want anything to do with Argentina.

    And that's because Argentina has never respected them and doesnt even recognise they have any rights... heck they wont even recognise them at all.

    So reap what you have sown.

    ---

    Anything from the C24 is a joke: their stated purpose is to aid the Islanders... and they wont even visit there.

    Even the UN boss has called their committee into question AND their commitment to the Islanders (who the Gen-Sec openly says have rights to self-determination).

    You cant get more dismissive than that.

    So stop trying to create some form of question over the democratic process: its FAR better than the Argentine elections, after all nobody was offered boxes of food and pesos to but peoples votes were they?

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 01:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Shed-time

    “hi my name is Raul and I simply repeat the same ignorance over and over and over and over. Sometimes on special days I copy-pasta UN resolutions that were nullified by a war we started and on other days I pretend C24 drafts are actual resolutions. I'm basically a bit of a moron”

    Hmm...

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 01:35 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Raul

    20 Shed-time

    Pathetic and pitiful. Annoy others think differently from you forumers. Is ecencia of democracy. To make matters worse on this forum use a false identity.

    shameful.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 01:43 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • manchesterlad

    Latest from BsAs:-

    Mauricio Macri the mayor of BsAs was is so impressed with the vote in the Falklands/Malvinas & the concept of self determination that he is pursuing the idea of BsAs seperating from Argentina using the same priciple

    This would free him from the constant interference of the CFK government, the leftist anti business, anti middle class, anti democratic policies which inevitably harm any major metropolitan city & would also make him The President which is what he desperately wants

    Last heard of his advisors were trying to contact the Governor of the FI & RIOM to organise such a referendum

    Millions of Argies including Raul, Doveoverdover & Malvinero are lining up for their DNI to the new independant BsAs wishing to be free from socialist, militant, Bolivarian policies that are destroying Argentina :-) :-)

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 01:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • CaptainSilver

    Raul, congratulations you have just earned another two boxes of Malbec and a banana. Quick, scuttle off now to see Mr Timerman for your next set of instructions

    Kindest regards

    Long John

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 02:20 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Conqueror

    @18 I'll start here. Anything from the DoDslug isn't worth a comment. Raul, your first two paragraphs must be embarrassing for you. What worth is there in an “institution”? Argieland has plenty of “institutions”. Two categories: Owned by criminal government or mental. Which type do you come from? Just for your information, the “Decolonisation Committee” is a bunch of shit. There isn't a single member with honesty or integrity. What do you know, much like argieland? Almost everything from South America is shameful. Fortunately, the Falkland Islands aren't in South America. Islands of democracy, freedom, integrity off the coast of corruption, criminality, depravity, larceny, mendacity, murder. I reckon even the air is different!

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 02:58 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Shed-time

    @21 What I said stands. You are simply a 'serial repeater of ignorance'. You wouldn't even know a decent citation if it fell on you and so instead you resort to the lowest common denominator by posting links to government propaganda, pretending that it's fact.

    Why don't you just post another UN resolution that was nullified? It's all you ever do... over and over and over like a lobotomised parrot.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 03:52 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • redpoll

    What no dissenting judgements from the Chilean , Mexican and Uruguayan members of the observers? No doubt they will be dismissed as sepoys = cipayos
    I seem to remember a Corsican,one Buonaparte dismissing Wellington as just a sepoy general and he ended his days in exile on a South Atlantic island. A fatal miscalculation and probably Boney would have echoed Cambronnes comment at Waterloo MERDE! which is sometimes translated as “the Old Guard dies but does not surrender”
    No Crissy you arent going to end up on any South Atlantic island though if you ask the Norwegians very nicely they might give you a short life tenancy of the semi Antartic Island of Bouvet.
    Seriously Falklanders congrats on a fully well run and democratic referendum

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 03:55 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Raul

    23 CaptainSilver

    With the respect you deserve, thank you very much, I appreciate but unfortunately find and Malbec and bananas are reserved for the racist, colonialist and imperialist 21st century.
    But do not be sad. The Secretary William Hague told me that you are on the list and had two complete kit. One for the acting secretary and one for David Cameron, he said quietly, to get along with his boss, and that is also in the delivery list.

    Do not get me wrong, but berry fast, fast before they are completed.

    Best regards.

    Mail: face1354@hotmail.com

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 04:08 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Clyde15

    #27
    Gosh, I did not no you were an international diplomat with direct access to the UK Foreign Secretary. This changes everything. Alicia Castro can now pack her bags and go home. It must mean that all your pronouncements on-line have come with the direct approval of the UK government. The problem is now solved. Have they given you a date for the handover of the Falklands and the removal of the British pirates ?
    We await with baited breath.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 05:02 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • malen

    an observer fired.........
    www.infobae.com/notas/700315-Echaron-a-un-observador-por-advertir-que-la-ONU-no-acepta-la-consulta.html

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 05:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Mick23

    @28 Clyde15

    This Raul person seems a tad delusional... All this talk of Malbec and bananas... Is this a shnockered monkey posting those comments?

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 06:26 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • briton

    The Falklands referendum,

    Some interesting fact to consider
    1, they voted to remain British
    2, CFK rejected it
    3 she has produced a petition to the UN
    4, Mr Cameron says we will defend,
    5, democracy has spoken
    6, we have broken NO UN resolutions
    7, Argentina [CFK] has broken more than you have changed your socks,
    8, CFK will now revert back to
    ==harassment, intimidation, threats, blockading, insults, abuse,
    9, we cant see the UN doing nothing,
    10 up to 1,000
    What happens now, we can’t go on like this [see 8 above]
    Cameron will defend , protect, what happens now,
    Something , somewhere, has to snap…
    Your move .

    .

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 07:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • GeoffWard2

    Think (#13)
    “Ok I confess.... I'm GeoffWard2....”

    My God! That makes me ...... Think!
    Something just 'walked across my grave'. Shivvver.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 07:50 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • briton

    very spooky,

    but will he reply, or just walk back again lol.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 08:09 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • golfcronie

    @27
    Raul. Please explain in plain English why it is neccessary to have BORDER GUARDS and NAVY GUARDS at 47 Railway Stations in BA

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 08:49 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Anglophile

    Credit where credit is due, the observation mission have both done their job and provided some memorable quotes. The two Uraguay members especially have been seen as intelligent modern democratic politicians who hopefully will do even more to bring stability and compassion to South America. Well done.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 10:24 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • ChrisR

    34 golfcronie

    They are there to help the poor argies on and off the ancient trains they use without hurting themselves.

    There is NO truth in the rumours they are there to deal with the goons and wanabe gangsters, especially 'government ministers' who routinely rob and kill whoever they wish because the Policia have not received their bribe to do their job.

    It is The Dark Country after all. :o)

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 10:30 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Joe Bloggs

    Well, that was an internationally supervised and recognised referendum if ever there was one. If anyone disagrees I'd like to hear why.

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 10:44 pm - Link - Report abuse 0
  • Doveoverdover

    International Supervision? Which one was that? “ The referendum on self- determination”?
    http://www.riom-mior.com/

    Recognised? Noted and ignored you mean.
    http://www.riom-mior.com/
    http://www.riom-mior.com/

    Well, that was an internationally supervised and recognised referendum if ever there was one.
    http://www.riom-mior.com/

    Mar 12th, 2013 - 11:17 pm - Link - Report abuse 0

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