elections

The election season here is heating up. There is violence, but much less than I had anticipated. A couple of highlights are:

The campaigning is going on with flags on the front of every house. Of course people had no choice in the matter, they were nailed to their homes without consent.

The vote is really to decide what kind of government they will have i.e. how each branch of the government will be organized. Strangely, the Maoist leader, Pranahanda, has been saying he wants to be the next President when they have not decided if thee will be a president or not.

Not surprisingly, the violence that is occuring on a daily basis is being attributed to the Maoist. Strangely, most of it seems to be directed at the UML (United Marxist Lenist). My guess is the Maoist are still upset that the UML would not forge an alliance with the Maoist and they are trying to kill off (literally) the party.

The Maoist developed material on how to intimidate the other parties. This was leaked to a newspaper. There has not been a denial of the facts. The document details how to intimidate other parties and their candidates so they will not run, how to intimidate the voters so they will not vote for the opposition or at all, and create discord so people will be so sick of the government they will vote for the Maoist.

The Maoist say they will start back with their revolution again if the people do not vote for them since they are sure that the people support their ideas.

One candidate is following a tradition of vote buying with home made booze served in a gourd...he got my vote!