Election Day

I know it’s a bit late but 1st of March was Election Day in South Africa. Traditionally…and this year was no exception…election days are a public holiday…this is supposed to free people from obligation and aid voter turn out…but actually it frees people from obligation to drink, watch TV, go on picnics and at about 21:00 say “what the ffff…. voting over already, damn I missed it never mind next time” I don’t have the figures yet but I suspect poll numbers will be pretty low this year…it was a bit overcast and cloudy you see.

This is local elections and the choice of parties is pretty daunting. I made my crosses and it wasn't an easy task choosing with just under 100 97 parties. On offer where gems such as Abolition of Income Tax and Usury Party, Royal Loyal Progress and the party headed by Louis Luyt the man who f#$%ed-up SA Rugby....guess he wants to try his hand at something easier. All you need to get on the national ballot is 50 friends, two colour logos and R500.00 (about $85)...its true check here...so everyone with an opinion or an axe signs up. I really don't understand how the Americans struggle along with only 2 or 3 parties.

As expected the ANC (Nelson Mandela's Party..sorry Thabo) are well out in front on around 66% of the vote with the DA (to put it diplomatically a more Eurocentric party) trailing second on 14%. The final results should be out by Saturday but I don't predict any major changes or upsets. If you're interested the results are here but be warned this site is written in dotnet...you know the Microsoft thingy...and only really works with Internet Explorer so FireFox users are out in the cold....And I Thought This Was Supposed To Be A Democratic Process.

Oh yeah and 1 March was also BlogMad launch day. They have a fast growing and vibrant community. I have a couple of invites for the public beta so leave me a comment if you would like to be fast growing and vibrant.

BTW don't expect a quick reply...I'm off to the pub....cheers.

Comments

[techchick]

A holiday for voting? We get an hour of paid time off where I work if you go vote. You could say that you were voting while really having a drink, but you'd still have to come back after an hour.

[MBoy]

Yes it is a bit of a farce...my wife and I have our own company. We are eight people altogether and only me, my wife and one employee voted...the rest just had the day off...I wouldn't mind but a couple of them fall in the class of "disgruntled South African looking for a ticket overseas" and really if you don't vote how can you complain!

[FSG]

Yeah, I also voted. I was very sad though that so many people didn't vote. The ironic thing is that they were the people with the most to say about how badly the country is being run. I felt proud when I put my yellow and white papers in the appropriate boxes. I felt less proud when I saw the packed beaches for the rest of the day and very few people with the black mark we got on our thumbs for voting :(

So much for change.