Not again!

     Sunday, October 5^th is Election Day in Peru.  Here voting is not a right and a privilege, but rather an obligation.  Failure to vote or help with the elections, if selected to be a “member of the table” (selections at random from the population, like jury duty), result in heavy fines, as does failure to display the national flag (in good condition) on 28^th-29^th July for the Independence Day Celebrations. 

(One of our neighbor's worn Peruvian flag left over from the 28th of July)

     

     The campaigns have been well underway for quite some time and are finally finishing up today.  Candidates (and their political parties) are not allowed to carry out their campaigns in the final week leading up to elections, so they do their best to go out with a bang and show everyone that they’ve got a lot of support to try to encourage others to also vote for them.

     Over the past month, there have been numerous moments in which we have had to wait in traffic as campaign floats go by and think to ourselves, “Not again!”  We’ve also listened to many vehicles blaring music or propaganda over loud speakers or a megaphone and had those same thoughts.  This morning, just before heading out to buy our weekly assortment of groceries at the market, we were greeted by literally hundreds of vehicles (small mototaxis, large buses, Combis, and cars) all full of passengers waving orange balloons, displaying orange banners and a photo of the candidate they support, and blaring propaganda clogging the streets around our house as they went by in a fifteen minute long procession!  We set out on foot towards Mercado Z and encountered another large parade with the waving candidate towards the front, a band, and many cars, but this time displaying the color green.  We’ve continued to hear propaganda throughout the day, but many tonight when we go to bed, our wish, “Not again!” will be answered.