Tudo Certinho: As Eleições

Like most of the world, Brasil breathed a collective sigh of relief when Obama won last Tuesday. The days and weeks leading up to the election people were of course asking me my thoughts and predictions. But on Election Day itself things were pretty tame. Having tracked the news and anticipated this day for a while, I, as well as many other Americans in my program, felt the buzz in the air. But on Election Day Tuesday and the day after when it was all said and done, it was business as usual in São Paulo. Meaning, it didn’t strike the same level of anticipation and excitement in Brazil as I thought it would. It was interesting to compare it with another momentous event that went on while living overseas. I was living in Spain when the US invaded Iraq in March 2003 and that caused a massive uproar in the streets. Every Spaniard had something to say and most of them took to the streets in protest by some form of another – whether it was egging posters of Bush or throwing a pig’s head into the window of Corte Ingles (a popular department store) To any IES people reading this, do you remember that?!?! Obviously they are different events….election, war….war, election….and I wasn’t expecting flying pig’s heads in Brasil. But there wasn’t the hype and level of interest that I had expected. The day of the election and the day after, it was more just a passing concern with Brazilians.

Something else to comment on, however, is that most Brazilians were very impressed with how easily and organized it is for Americans to vote by absentee ballot while living abroad. They look with tremendous respect at both the efficiency of the absentee ballot system and the voluntary desire of Americans to vote while living overseas. In Brasil, voting is mandatory. If you are living in the country you have to vote in your home district. There are exceptions however. For example, if you work or study in a different state then you can be excused. But if you don’t request an excuse and do not vote, you pay a fine. I am not sure how or even if absentee voting works with Brazilians. But in any case, 99.9% of Brazilians I talk to about the elections say that if voting were not mandatory, they would NOT vote. It’s an apparent disenchantment with corrupt politics and a mile thick bureaucracy which many feel leads to inefficiency and unproductivity. So in my case, seeing me voluntarily vote from abroad via an organized absentee system really impressed them.

I went with some friends to an Irish pub (i.e. gringo bar) that was showing election night coverage on CNN, full sound and all. Hanging out at Irish pubs in the heart of South America isn’t my favorite thing to do, but I needed a place with all access US style coverage. Naturally the U.S. expat community converged there for a night of red, white, and caipirinhas! A few other international students from my program – from Germany, Finland, France, Norway, and Germany – also tagged along. They were equally as interested in me and I found myself giving lessons in civics and the electoral college. It was a good reminder of what I knew, what I thought I knew, and what I still need to learn.

The good guy won, we all went crazy, hail to the chief, God bless America!

Sticking with the theme of civics, nationalism, and country, here’s a little trivia for you readers that of course can be looked up in .3 seconds on Google. But at least give it an honest guess before you Google….what is the only country in the world whose national anthem does not have words???