Global Voices Online

Vilhelm Konnander reviews the results of the Ukrainian parliamentary election and admires Yulia Tymoshenko's campaign posters.

The beatroot writes about an unfortunate tendency to call Nazi German death camps in Poland “Polish concentration camps.”

Henrik of Hungarian Accent reports on a possible case of censorship directed at a blogger - a policeman-blogger. Paul at Further Ramblings of a N.Irish Magyar writes on the sometimes dangerous conditions in which Hungarian bloggers work.

KI Media in Cambodia has an English translation of a news story about an 18-year-old woman who jumped off a bridge in a suicide attempt. Rescued by fishermen, the young woman told the police “she did not want to live because she has no job, no money, and nothing to eat.”

Parliamentary elections in Thailand are unique. Bangkok Pundit cites section 74 of the election law that says there is no such thing a a sure win for an unopposed candidate–he must get at least 20% of all eligible votes. Voters who want him to lose can cast a “No” vote instead. There are some voters, however, who exercise their right to vote differently. Some write messages like “Thaksin get out” on their ballots. A political science lecturer opted to tear up his ballot in front of the TV cameras. Newshound in BKK has a photo and a write-up on the latter.

Karaoke singing is so popular in the Philippines it is almost like a national sport. It's fun if you're doing the singing but Noisy, Noisy Man didn't enjoy it one bit when his neighbors held a karaoke party, with booze, until 3.00 a.m.

Asiapundit quotes Singapore Ink's post based on a Channel News Asia story that political candidates cannot use podcasting in their campaigns. Photos of the candidates, party histories and manifestos are the only permissible forms of political advertising on the internet.

Tobias Ljungvall summarizes the events of the past week in Belarus and reports on how intimidation was used against a foreign election observer: “It happened on 19 March late at night in a territorial election commission, i.e. the mid-level vote tabulation instance. A woman from another country, serving as an official election observer for the OSCE, saw some election fraud much more clearly than was intended for her. She was told that if she wanted to return safely to her home country she should not report this. And she did not.”

TOL's Belarus Blog posts a note on the meaning of April 2 - the “Day of Belarus-Russia Unity - for Belarus and its people.