I have been a bad girl, ignoring the existance of my blog for some time now. I have many things to say, but sometimes I just want the entry to write itself. I have also have been feeling a strong resistance towards tecnology of late, which doesn't help... all the same, here I am now, finally catching up on the blog. As with last time, there will probably be a motherload of entries all at once, so thank you for you patience in advance.
As more than one person from home has asked me about it, I think it is necessary that I write a bit about the presidential elections. Uruguayan elections have a round one, and if necessary, a round two as well. Voting is required by law, and from 8pm the night before elections through 8pm on election day, the sale of alcohol is illegal. There are 4 main parties here, one extreme left, one socialist, one slightly right of center, and one conservative party. To win the vote in the first round, your party must have more than 50% of the votes, otherwise the voting goes to second round. In late October the first round of elections determined two leading parties- the socialist party with 48% of the votes, and the "white party" (the conservatives) with just under 30%. The results meant that the final vote would determine the presidency between a former intelectual revolutionary (who was an active rebel during the dictatorship of the 70's and who spent 7 years in jail for speaking out), and a former militant of the dictatorsihp (and known alcoholic accused of stealing money and land during his military years)...
People are very passionate about politics here. Weeks before the election the boardwalk was filled with people every afternoon from 3pm on, waving their party's flags, cruising down the road honking their horns, and passing out flyers and voting pamphlets. The current president is part of the socialist party, but is more conservative than Mujica, the current candidate. Mujica was born and raised in the countryside, and is probably the most viceraly emotional politician I have ever seen. In an interview a couple of weeks ago the reporter asked him about his family and the man literally started crying on national television... Meanwhile a video on youtube was circulating with the other candidate, Lacalle, conducting an interview while uncontestably drunk...
The second round of voting was last Sunday, and within three hours of the polls closing the results were already in (ah, the benefits of living in a country with only 3 million inhabitants!)- Mujica the socialist won 53% of the votes and Lacalle conceeded the elections to him. Oh boy did people celebrate! Mujica gave his heartfelt, and improvised speach in the heart of the old city, and the streets were overflowing with people screaming, waving flags, and dancing. The boardwalk, which wraps all around the city following the coastline, was a steady stream of cars honking and waving banners and people singing. All of this in the pouring rain...
Needless to say, witnessing elections in another country is always an interesting experience. But I was particularly impressed by the passion and genuine interest people took in the elections- especially the youth. Coming from a country where the youth vote is almost a joke, it was refreshing to see people so involved in the politics of their country. It will be interesting to see how Uruguay develops in the next five years under socialist direction!
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