Hunkering Down

It's April 15, a day known generally to all Americans as the dreaded "tax day." But here, it is the first weekend of the 2007 General Elections. This weekend is when local elections (gubernatorial, senate, house of assembly, local government) take place. We are hunkered down inside our flat waiting to see what happens. It has been eerily quiet so far. There were a few explosions yesterday but no movement on the streets of people or vehicles. The lead-up to the elections has been rather violent. Large groups wandering the streets chanting political slogans and randomly firing guns into the air have been a common site; reports of candidates leading physical attacks on other candidates were also common. It is hard to imagine, say, the governor of Iowa attacking and beating senseless (or killing) his political opponent, but it is a normal part of political activity here. Gangs of thugs called area boys travel the streets under the best of circumstances and are using the elections as an excuse to increase their activities. Even normally quiet residential areas have been invaded in recent weeks. The littlest activity sets off violence. For example: One party pastes their political posters over the posters of an opposing party and that opposing party goes up in flames. Instead of pasting over those posters they instead go after the other people. Homes and vehicles are destroyed, lives are lost and they all feel justified in their actions. Political parties are not above intimidation either. Those found chanting and firing guns in the streets are there to let other parties in the area know what they can and will do. Money flows freely; political votes are purchased for large sums although many are given the money, told how to vote and informed what will happen to their loved ones if they don't. The money is a sort of band-aid on the wound not an incentive. The corruption at higher levels is as bad or worse. Are the ballots really going to reach the polling places? Will the election observers reach the polling places? Will their presence mean anything if the elections have been pre-rigged by the government or others? How often can the government (federal and local) proclaim it's intent to not interfere in the elections while manipulating it's agencies to indict candidates, declare spurious holidays to block court decisions from being made, not release funding for election preparations and so on? Once the election results are announced, what will happen?

It is interesting to be an observer to another country's approach to democracy. The uncertainty and violence aside, it is the determination to move towards democracy that is fascinating. Much is gained and lost over and over again on the road to democracy. Great strides for "the little people" are made during the promising moments and those same strides are taken away from those same people when the slide begins. The leaders tend to either escape with their lives and loot to a life of exile or lose it all when the next leaders take over, either way they don't live through the mess they created. Never has this country seen a peaceful transfer of elected power. This would be the first. But "the little people" continue to regroup after each violent episode of loss and begin the struggle forward again with hope that democracy will be, eventually, achieved. A frequent thought is "Would we be as determined in America to slog forward if faced with the same conditions?" Would we stand for no electricity, no clean water, restrictions on movements, failure of infrastructure, loss of law and order? Would we just stand and whine as so many of us now do or would we pull up our bootstraps and get to work?

The presidential elections are scheduled for next weekend. There is a good chance the results of this weekend's elections won't be announced by next weekend and the tension in the country will be tight to the breaking point. The risk of violence erupting isn't so much during the elections - that violence is almost incidental in nature - but will come when the results of all elections are made public. Losers don't go quietly in places like this. In the meantime, we will be hunkered down, watching.