Elections

No, not Barack, Rudy and Hillary. I’m talking about Viktor, Viktor, and Yulia. That’s right, this weekend is the highly anticiapated Ukrainian national elections. For those of you that don’t follow Ukrainian politics closely (like me), check out The Kyiv Post…or this. What I do know of the politics here is confusing, so if you don’t really get it, don’t worry. Bottom line: elections are this weekend.

The past month has been pretty interesting, though, because all the parties are campaigning like crazy. Huge banners have been attached to the sides of buildings and light posts, and small tents with flags have been popping up everywhere. The tents seem to be the major campaign vehicle here - they’re in the color of the party and people sit inside handing out small flags, pamphlets, etc. This past week has been especially interesting since tent villages have been taking over different parts of the city. Party of Regions has taken over Maidan with their blue tents and huge stage and BYUT (Bloc Yulia Timoshenko) has taken over the public square near our house. One morning last week, on a walk with Laika, I turned the corner and was startled by the sea of white tents with red hearts on the sides.

 

Yulia definitely wins in the marketing department, in my opinion. Not only does she have a better logo than the other blocs, her bloc has distributed tons of swag. And I have been thoroughly involved in the business of swag collecting this week. I’ve managed to gather small flags from 3 of the groups, but I hit the jackpot last week walking through the BYUT tents.

One of the reasons I hadn’t gotten much up to this point (other than what had been given to me by a friend in the Political section at the Embassy) is the fact that once I open my mouth, it is painfully clear to the people handing out swag that I am not Ukrainian, and therefore will not be voting. However, last week, I threw myself in with a group of Ukrainians, kept my mouth shut, and just grabbed as things were thrust into the crowd. Pretty clever, I know. And I don’t feel bad about it now that I’ve seen several babushky taking stuff by the bagful - which I assume I will soon see being sold on the street. Anyway, I scored a bandana, several bumper stickers, regular stickers, and, drumroll please…a pretty sweet t-shirt.

Due to popular demand, here’s a photo of the above mentioned t-shirt in all it’s glory. No, Yulia does not look like a cyborg in real life, but apparently she’s really into flowers. The back of the shirt says “Veer-yu” - it means “I believe” in Ukrainian and is a clever use of her initial (”yu” is one letter in Cyrillic). Very clever.

So that’s about as involved as I’m getting in Ukrainian politics. Shawn, on the other hand, is currently out in the field preparing to monitor the elections in his quest to spread democracy. It should be pretty interesting. There’s already a rumor that one of the parties is paying the equivalent of $10 a vote…not illegal, but also not really in the democratic spirit. Hopefully he gets to witness some other funny business during the 24 hours he has to stay awake and alert. I’m sure he’ll be excited to share his experience on his blog in the coming week.

(Postscript: It is 8pm on Saturday evening. I just came back from taking Laika on a walk and can hear the rally around the corner from our building. I have 5 words for you: brass band playing “La Bamba.” Excellent.)