Election day

As I turned the computer on this morning I found out that for the rest of the world it is Earth Day today. Here it is national election day. To make sure that people can go and vote today has also been declared a public holiday. The polls opened this morning at 5:00am.
I talked with quite a few people here and listen into many conversation about the elections.There was some real surprises for me, but mostly it confirmed what I would have guessed, that is that apart from very rare exceptions people vote by colour.

I forget how many parties have candidates, I think something like 30. You have two christian parties, one party called "Women Foward" and other odd little parties, but mostly the issue today will be: will the ANC get a two third majority. If they do they can basically do what ever they want, but if they don't they will have to convince other parties (or should I say other party: namely the COPE) to agree with them on issue for resolutions to be passed.

Obviously the presidential candidate for the ANC is Jacob Zuma, a Zulu. The presidential candidate for COPE (the party which separated from ANC) is a Bishop who, people told me, used to say that religion and politics should not mix. The COPE is viewed as possibly less corrupted and more skilled (I am quoting here) than the ANC party, but some view them as arrivist who are just trying to "ride the wave"...meaning the wave of success that the ANC seems to have with black youth. I hate to say but post apartheid at what time was the ANC not popular?!?

One colleague here who lives in the townships told me that at the last election the queues to vote lasted from 4:00am to 10:00pm so I don't expect to get the results today.