A Different Way to Vote

“No Pessimists ever discovered the secret of the stars, or sailed to an uncharted land, or opened a new heaven to the human spirit.” –Helen Keller

I’m not a big fan of elections in the United States and it turns out I’m not a big fan of elections in Colombia either.

It is election time now and I am learning a lot. I have learned that elections don’t all happen on one day: in March they will vote for senate and representatives, but later in the year they will vote for president; I have learned that people can vote once they are 18 years old, like in the US; I have learned that there are many political parties, but some are much stronger than others; but mostly I have learned about the practice of “buying” votes.  With the peace talks between the Colombian government and the FARC hopefully coming to a close in Havana, these elections will determine who is in power when the agreements are put into place.  There is quite a lot at stake which is generating a lot of movement and involvement in the vote buying process this year.

It’s been pretty depressing. Living among the people in the community, I totally understand why it happens and why it works this way, but from a stance of idealism, it is a completely broken system. Most people have little hope that a candidate is actually going to do anything to support their rights and needs as a community, so instead of taking into consideration what the candidate is promising to do in the future, the people look for what the candidate will give them now.

The process is well organized. Candidates have people in the communities that look for votes for them. These people talk with the community members, find out what they need (money, a laundry machine, blocks to construct their house, a good reference for a job) and in exchange for a promised vote, they get them what they need. The people who are looking for votes also get some sort of compensation. And not only is it individual compensation, but community compensation as well. Our neighborhood has been promised a transformer by one candidate (selfishly, I’m kind of hoping that one comes through… I haven't had electricity for 3 days now and I’m sick of unplugging my refrigerator on a regular basis in the evening when the electricity goes wacky.). 

Not only are there political posters everywhere, but they paint walls of stores, homes, and businesses with the names of the candidates.  It's pretty much everywhere.

One neighbor explained to me that this year they are much more organized because they have had problems in the past with people getting on more than one list and receiving compensation for more votes than they could actually give. This year, they are comparing lists and making sure that everything adds up. There is no actual way to verify that people are actually voting for the candidate that they say they will vote for, which gives me hope: at least there is still anonymity in voting. However, even though the candidate may not be, the people are honest, and if they say they will vote for someone, they will vote for that someone.

It all makes me feel incredibly hopeless, but one friend here reminded me that it can change. If the community was able to organize, to back one candidate that they believe in, the system could change. “Sí se puede cambiar, Lani. Se puede cambiar,” she told me. There is always hope.