It's Official

They just announced the number of dead people whose names appear on the voting rolls. There are more than 26,000. I will bet that less than 15,000 of them vote this year.

There is a movement afoot here encouraging people to go to the polls and vote for NINGUNO (nobody). It's a great idea. If people start to realize that there are others as disenchanted with the bad choices they are given in every election, maybe they will start to come together to express their displeasure. That is how things change.

I loved watching the commercials for the candidates. They are off the air now because the JCE (Electoral Board) prohibits political activities two days before the election. They still permit bribing people to vote, and the above mentioned DPP (Dead People Party)activities, but commercials on TV and Radio are banned. Every commercial was the same. Vote for me. I am loyal. We must go forward, not backward. You should vote for me, since my party is going to win. We have solidarity. My party is the only good party. There's a party in my pants (Just kidding). I am honest. I believe in kissing old people. I must be the winner. Look at all the people I have been able to pay to walk with me, make a lot of noise, and act stupidly.

When I first came here in September of 1999 I was given a house to live in, by the owner of a large factory. The only restriction was that I could not be in the house on Friday afternoons because that was his hooker time, and the house was his hooker love nest. He was a very important official in the PRSC, at the time, the party of the President and the party to which you wanted to belong. After about a month living here, he asked me if I would be interested in going on an election caravan. This is basically a parade in support of a given political party. I said that I would love to go. The PRSC is the red party. Caravaning is the most popular form of campaigning. The candidate sits in an open car at the head of the caravan and it winds its way through the city or the countryside, or both. They never have to speak, just wave (and most of them can do that).There's lot's of yelling, lots of noise, and lots of cheering from the people on the sides of the road. It was really impressive to see so many supporters of the red party out to cheer on their candidate. It was an amazing show of dedication and loyalty to their preferred party. Every house we passed was bedecked in red, every house. Everyone was wearing red, waving red flags, doing anything they could to cheer on their candidate, and to let them know that they were solidly behind them. That way, if this guy should win, he should remember these fervent supporters and do something to repay the debt. The caravan started in Moca and went through the mountains all the way to the road that takes you to the beach in Sosua. Then we turned around and went back and the people were still there. It was an amazing show of support.
The next week I had a date, and we decided to go to the beach. The girl mentioned that she hoped that we didn't hit a lot of traffic because we were taking the same road to the beach as the caravan had taken the week before, and she had heard that there a caravan was scheduled for that day. We were lucky and left ahead of the caravan so that we made the trip in the normal amount of time. However, it was obvious that a caravan would soon be passing. Every house was bedecked in purple, with people standing outside wearing purple, wildly waving purple flags. What loyalty.

It's too bad this isn't a presidential election. They always bring out the best in the Dominicans. Since all power (ALL POWER) flows from the Presidency down, having your party in power as the president is very important. How can you fill your pockets if the others guys party decides who gets the money? The last Presidential election was in 2008. There were 3 major candidates. Leonel, the winner from the purple party (PLD), Vargas, a really angry looking guy representing the white party (PRD) and my favorite "Amable (friendly)" Castro, representing the red party (PRSC). Neither Leonel nor Vargas had a platform for which they stood. Only Amable had a program, and that was to support and help the poor people. Actually, if the poor people believed him, he would have won since the majority (70-80%) of the people are REALLY poor. His campaign appearances were quite simple. He went into a town, gave out $500 pesos (about $17US) cash, and a baby pig, to as many people as he had pigs and cash for. That's it. Brilliant. This year the government is giving out appliances to buy votes. The appliances are bought by the National Lottery Commission and then shipped to the PLD warehouses of the various candidates to remind the faithful why they should continue to vote for them.

Oh yeah, and the people still drive like shit.