Salvador, Brazil
Sunday, October 1, 2006
It´s been a calm election day here, and I can see people coming and going from the Athletic Association of Bahia from the apartment window. I learned that voting is compulsory in Brazil, and I vaguely understood the consequence of not voting to be something like getting a black mark on you Social Security Number that hinders your ability to conduct certain business transactions. Maybe somebody that understands the consequences a little better can enlighten me, but it was an interesting concept nonetheless. Leading up to today there have been television interruptions during prime time with candidate commercials (I´m led to believe all candidates get equal air time here) and commercials explaining how to use the standardized electronic voting machines. Cars driving by with banners and loudspeakers have been common, as have people standing on the street with balloons and flyers supporting various candidates. Lula is supposed to win re-election, but his decision to skip a televised debate last week has hurt him. Folks seem pretty willing to discuss their political opinions here (maybe because everyone is forced to vote) and at least here in
Salvador my informal conversations indicate Lula´s popularity is mixed at best. We´ll see what happens...
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