Municipal Elections 2004

To Bolivians, Sunday December 5th of 2004 is the day to go vote for their next mayor!

I`ve seen voting happen in Japan and in Canada, but the Bolivian elections are quite different. The system itself - one vote per person - is standard, but what happens in the cities is quite different.

First of all, no cars are allowed to drive unless the vehicle has authorization from the National Electoral Court. No public buses, no taxis, no NADA. Apparently, this is to prevent people from driving to other districts to vote again!!

Secondly, all national flights were cancelled starting at 00:00 of December 5th. (International flights continued to operate)

Thirdly, the selling and consumption of any alcohol was prohibited as of Friday at 0:00. This is supposedly to prevent bribing! And we were also saying that maybe its also to prevent people from going to voting booths drunk, lest they make "bad choices" (like a lot of people did in Canada`s southern neighbour... maybe they were all drunk....that must be it....). As well, parties, meetings, and gatherings are prohibited.

Lastly, starting at OO:00 hours of December 5th it is prohibited to carry fire arms or any sharp or cutting objects. (Lets not do that on a regular basis people!)

Wow eh? They mean BUSINESS.

So today, we walked out to town to see if all of the rules above were being followed!!

True enough, there were hardly any cars, and the cars that were driving had a special pass on their windows, signifying they have authorization. (Although i saw some cars whom the passengers didn`t look like VIP...they looked more like punks just driving around for the thrill of it)

Long-distance buses were also not in operation, and that is why my friend from Japan that was supposed to come visit me in Cochabamba couldn`t come on Sunday.

And when i went to the supermarket on Friday and Saturday, there was a sign posted by the alochol section saying they cannot sell alcohol. BUT, when we were walking down the streets today (Sunday), we saw some beer bottles thrown in the bushes....evidence that some hurridly gulped down beer just before the bells rang at midnight.

Us gringos ("foreingers") decided to take advantage of this day without any cars on the streets, and went to the main intersection in the city and took pictures standing in the middle of it. Was kinda cool!!! It was a great day to take pictures of areas where normally there are too many people or too many cars or too many of both. All was quiet and peaceful, and we encountered many groups, ranging from children to adults playing soccer on the streets where they normally could not. I even saw a group of kids playing vball and was so tempted to join in!

All in all, it was a peaceful election day here in Bolivia.