Go Boris Go!

(Sam): In this wonderful place of cowboy hats and dusty streets, obscene car sound systems and constant fireworks, we have been (un)fortunate enough to land just at the time of the elections.
Elections in Medina are notoriously closely contested, mostly because a shift in politicians really does mean massive shifts in power and money, and many risk losing their jobs if the other parties win. Even for Menindança, if one of the other two candidates were to win, we are likely to suffer huge delays in paperwork, fewer donations and government support, and much harsher scrutiny.

However...unlike power-dressing politicians in the UK, this two-month long build-up to the voting day is jam-packed full of fireworks at all hours of the day; ridiculous jingles for each of the politicians blaring through the streets out of car boots (literally like “Number 10 is the best, dance with him and forget the rest” or “Everyone I know votes 25, my granny, my dad, my uncle, my dog, everyone votes 25”); and the most hilarious yet intense parades through the streets that we´ve ever seen!

In the photos you´d think we were caught up in a terrible riot, but what happens is that three or four nights in the week, each party takes it in turns to march round the town and then descend upon the main square with as many supporters as they can bribe, threaten or blackmail to join them. The first time was only a couple of days after we had arrived…we had heard music and fireworks all day and then as night fell, the madness unfolded. The distant music and shouting got louder and louder and then fireworks exploded literally outside our windows. Claire screamed and hid (haha!) and I ran out to the street to see what on earth was going on – in the darkness we could see all our neighbours outside their houses looking up the hill of our street and at the top all you could see was smoke, light, and crazed silhouettes jumping up and down. They gathered their forces and then came racing down the hill! First there were about 50 motorbikes laden with too many people and waving banners, burning their tyres and revving way too high. Then about 30 horses (?!) which we couldn’t quite believe, ridden by cowboy-hatted guys letting off fireworks and drinking cans of beer. The air was filled with smoke and the smell of burnt rubber, and the poor horses seemed as shocked as we were. Literally hundreds and hundreds of people were running and dancing down behind them, with cars full of people inside and on top, and massive boom boxes…and the climax was half-way through the procession, seeing their political party’s candidate for town mayor sitting on a throne on top of his car, surrounded by fairy lights and massive banners, shouted on by the masses of drunk people who didn’t have a clue what politics was even about.
It took over an hour for it all to pass by and fill the town square below, and I was just imagining a scene in Trafalgar Square with crowds of drunk Brits whooping Boris Johnson on to his next four years as Mayor of London! Viva Boris Johnson!

Jokes aside though, the election day is 7th October, when we'll find out what the impact will be for our project and the next four years of social work in Medina. We're voting number 10! Robinho!