I Vote for the Poutine

I arrived in Peru a couple weeks ago in the midst of all the hullaballoo for the elections that are happening today. Every available wall was painted or posted with names of candidates and depictions of the political party’s “symbol” – on the ballot, Peruvians mark an “X” on the symbol of the party (e.g., the shovel, the tree, the pencil, the Incan flag, the gourd, the map of Peru, the Incan cross, the happy face, etc.) “Who are you voting for?” people ask each other (yes, they actually ask each other this) and they respond with the symbols: “I’m voting for the tree for mayor and the happy face for regional president”.

This past week, there have been events every single day for each party’s “campaign closing fiesta” – central streets were closed in the middle of downtown and stages were set up for their rallies with concerts, presentations, giveaways and a lot of flag waving. Then, they get serious – sort of. No liquor is sold starting 48 hours before voting day. It’s a bit of a reunion because people travel all over Peru to vote in their respective towns (depending on whatever address is on their identification card, which usually hasn’t been updated since their last move).

There’s a festive vibe around each school where voting posts have been set up – temporary vendors set up their tarps and sell typical Peruvian meals. In and around the tarps are the queues to get into the school and the voting area. Every so often, someone staring off into space doesn’t move ahead on time and people run to keep their place in line or worse yet, it turns into a scramble. Only one guy’s around to keep order. The elderly, the disabled, and parents with babies can skip the line-up – when there are rules like these, there’s always someone who tries to take advantage. Apparently, someone was able to skip the line by painting fake wounds on his face.

Here, voting is mandatory. There is a fine if you don’t vote – ~CAD$56. Each voter dips their middle finger in dark purple paint that doesn’t come off for days – that way, they let you to exit the voting grounds, police don’t fine you and it also allows you to start buying liquor again. After all, why not have election day be another reason to celebrate?