Elections

I've been in Mauritius for 5 months now. It seems like time has gone quickly. Everyday there are fewer and fewer things that don't make sense to me or that seem odd. I guess I am becoming more acclimated to life here.

Don't get me wrong, there are still things that surprise me, like the employee who used a hand cart to roll our new shelf to the door so that he wouldn't have to carry it. (The shelf weighed less than 15 lbs) Or the way people look at me like I have 3 heads when they see me jogging in the morning... And perhaps most especially in this season, the political process surrounding elections. This is where I will spend my time today.

Election day isn't really set on a fixed schedule, rather it has to do with when parliament resolves and has their recess. This year is an election year (elections happen every 5 years) but the date wasn't decided until April.

My husband told me that this year was a bit unusual because elections were held on Wednesday. Usually they are held on a Sunday so that the work week is less disrupted. Election day is a national holiday and so most of the stores and businesses are closed on this day. In addition, the next day is counting day and many businesses are again closed because they know their employees will be listening to the return results and not really working.

This year I was lucky because elections fell right around my birthday allowing my husband to spend more time with me, and that was awesome!

Anyway- once the election day is decided alliances are formed. Basically what happens is that several political parties may form an alliance and all run together. If they win, they may possibly share the offices to which they have been elected. It would like if three independent parties formed an alliance to run candidates against the republicans and democrats. If they won, then they each of the parties would have their presidential candidate in office for 1 1/3 years. Then the next would take his turn. Weird huh?

Another difference is that the political parties don't really have a platform. They don't have clear causes that they support. I guess this makes it easier for them to form alliances.

Campaigning here is totally different. It's mostly done with banners and posters everywhere. Flags and banners with the parties colors are draped everywhere in town, at every round about and at every major intersection. In addition, people drive around with loudspeakers on their car and either play music or some political message. (During this time, living on a main road is a real bummer... They are loud and obnoxious)

I think that the worst is the day that they announce the results. People go crazy. They drive around for hours honking and waving their parties colors in declaration of victory. We definately don't get that excited in the U.S.

One final, funny system they have in place here is the "Best Loser" system. There are 70 seats in parliament. 62 are elected and 8 are given to the "Best Losers". Basically the system is to balance out any racial inequalities in the voting. The suprem court decides who the best losers will be based on recommendations from the electoral supervisory commission. Interesting idea...

Anyway- I am thankful that the political season is over and that things can return to "normal".

Guess that's all for today.