Nine days later, Scott Brown won his election, making him the forty-first Republican in the Senate, and handing Obama's opposition the ability to filibuster health-care reform.
He accused the government of shutting down Web sites, newspapers and text messaging services throughout the country, crippling the opposition's ability to communicate during the voting.
So the ruling party is quashing the opposition's ability to organise on the ground by driving out local MDC activists and then terrorising ordinary voters.
Many analysts saw this as a proxy vote of no confidence from the Bush administration in the Iraqi opposition's ability to establish law and order and organize the rebuilding of Iraq.
The opposition's ability to mount mass protests helped make the political playing field Russia's most unstable since 1996, when President Boris N. Yeltsin was forced into a runoff vote by Mr. Zyuganov, the Communist leader.
While the Assad regime claims the lapses were the result of a faulty network link, the evidence suggests that they were deliberate efforts by the government to hamper the opposition's ability to communicate inside the country and with the outside world.
In a note today Citi economists declared the Greek election result a Pyrrhic victory and did not waver from their bearish take that Greece will be forced to exit the euro sooner than later, arguing that with the leftist Syriza party a newly empowered opposition, the ability of the new government — in whatever form it may evolve — to push through more painful spending cuts will be limited.
The opposition's ability to quickly rally and force Mr Ankvab and his government to vacate is a more surprising development, but it was never unimaginable.
Done well, it's a devastating tactic but the risk you take increases incrementally with the opposition's ability to keep the ball.
By shortening the lead time, we can lower the safety stock, reduce the pasting caused by stockout, get better buyer service level and increase the opposition's ability in business.
