Elections: The Day After

Well, I've been out and about today, and I've been hearing some pretty bad things. Plenty of not-so-nice activities related to the elections, as usual, even if - as many other fellow-observers have related - individual polling stations held their voting without any untoward incidents.

There was a rally at the Opera Square just now, with representatives of a few political parties and a relatively big crowd of upset citizens. It wasn't terribly huge, but what the politicians had to say got me thinking, got me confused... I was more or less pleased with my experience yesterday, and I feel reassured, as I said, that we can really and truly hold free and fair elections in this country, but things have happened, and certain would-be leaders are rightfully upset. At the same time, I wonder how noble their intentions are. If, indeed, as one of them said, the powers that be now have come to where they are by illegal means, and that's the only way to get rid of them, I am not certain how professional, capable and transparent the new leaders that come replace them would be. It's confusing...

One thing I forgot to mention about the elections yesterday was how much of an ecological disaster it was. SO MUCH paper went into it - ballots, envelopes for the ballots, huge paper bags to fill with used and unused ballots, unused ballots that were purposefully torn so as to not be re-used... It broke my heart to see all that go to waste. I mean, like I said, there really must be a better way, technically and logistically, of carrying out elections., besides just the counting late into the night. How do they do them elsewhere ?