| Re: Elections 2006 in Israel |
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Last week we had Election Day here in Israel. The final results will not be known vis a vis the ‘constitution' of the government and the ‘deals' that the ruling party, Kadima, will make to secure a smooth running government. I am more of an observer than a participant in elections. _option_optionThe morning of Election Day at 9am (they opened at 7am and close at 10pm), I went to my local polling station to ‘beat the rush/lines'. At this year's election the lines seemed shorter, a sign of the voters who were un-enamored with the choices. Israelis seemed at best apathetic and at worst disgusted, with the whole voting ‘thing'. Less than 66% of the voters have exercised their ‘democratic' privilege-the lowest in Israeli election history. A comic on TV wryly noted that there were more ‘hatraot' -warnings of terrorist threats- than people who voted. It seems untenable that we, whose enemies are vociferous and at our doorstep, cannot and do not take part in our destiny. The larger parties are the most ‘hit' by the poor voter turn-out. The smaller parties have the innate excitement of their supporters. Voters chose with their ‘feet'- which went anywhere but to the polling stations, national zoos and parks were filled with the air of wafting BBQs. A sad commentary was a pre-election ‘vote' at local universities. At Hebrew University, a generally ‘leftist' secular environment, the ‘winner' was the NRP- the modern orthodox ‘rightist' party-meaning that the much more numerous secular community of college students did not bother to vote. Well that was an improvement-in my eyes at least-to the results of the same pre-election vote at Haifa University, the winner there was the Green Party, whose major plank in the legalization of Hashish/Marijuana!! A party which was an unexpected ‘winner' (a ‘grey' if not ‘dark' horse) is the ‘Retired Person's' party. Their acronym is ‘Zach'' which means ‘aged' and it is used with ‘aged wine' as a sign of excellence. Their popularity, with the aging and especially with young Tel Avivians, seems to be both a function of the sorry affects of the ‘economic reforms' on the weakest members of society, the children and the aged, and the sense of frustration at the offerings of the larger more established parties. The ballot area is in a large classroom, five people are sitting at a table, and in front of them and to their side is a cardboard or particleboard tri-fold screen about five and a half feet high. A large bridge table was set up with a large two inch high multi-partitioned ‘box'. In each square (which looks a lot like the boxes of teas which are sold with multi-flavored teas), are piles of papers with the initials of the various party's names in Hebrew. When you walked into the room, past the de rigueur guards who checked my handbag at the entrance to the building and room, one of the people at the table compared my ID number, picture and address against a list. Another person gave me a blue envelope. I went behind the ‘mechitza' and chose my piece of paper and put it the envelope. I closed and licked the envelope (not required) and placed it in the slot of the cardboard ballot box which was on another card table in front of the ‘observers'. I walk out and recall the evening and night that I sat on that ‘observer' table. My son and some of his friends had established a party whose major planks were ‘Chen' - an acronym which stood for Education and Beatification, but itself formed the word that means sweetness and beauty in one. After months of politicking, advertising and creating a ‘Buzz' about being an ‘Anglo-Saxon' Party - which is the Israeli way of describing anyone for whom English is his/her native tongue, Election Day arrived. Being Number Three of the four party members mother, I asked how I could help. "You understand English, Hebrew, some Arabic and Yiddish don't you", he said, "Would you agree to sit on the ‘observers' table to check that there is no ‘monkey business' during the ballot counting. What could happen in this day-and-age? I was ‘requested' to appear at 9:45 pm, fifteen minutes before the ballot areas were closed. I arrived at 9:15, just-in-case. The polling station closed, the door was sealed. We were sequestered with water and sandwiches that were of the highest Kashrut level, also just-in-case. The person ‘In-Charge' declared that the envelopes could be counted. I sipped water. They were counted. They counted them again against the list of people who voted. Oops, the list of people that voted was different for the two main observers who represented different parties. I sipped some more water, trying to hide my smile. They were recounted and found that the number was really they same. Then they opened the envelopes and put the ballots in piles. They then counted the piles and were ‘requested', by the ‘In Charge' person, to leave them in the original ‘piles'. It was now about two o'clock am. I drank some more water to fight exhaustion. And then as I ‘observed' from the side, the piles were precariously swaying. I tried to make a sign as to the imminent fall of this ‘Tower of Pisa'. I was chastised that any word or sign from me was against balloting rules. I sipped more water to hide my look of impeding horror. Within seconds the neat piles of ballots teetered and fell in a giant mess. I couldn't drink another drop of water, and just put my face in my hands, as my body shook with laughter. Oh my, we will be here forever, I thought. Fortunately, it only took another hour, to‘re-pile' them in countable mounds of 10, which didn't teeter at all, and get the final count. At Three A.M. our ‘leader' declared the deed done, and everyone took out their cell phones. Yup, all the observers ‘reported' to their individual parties the room's results. Well how couldn't I call my son when everyone else was calling their ‘party'? "You ok?" He asked in a concerned but exhausted voice. "You guys are the last to finish counting". I was there though; I wouldn't have missed this experience for anything. I was a supportive and ‘observing', if not water-logged mother, to me that was what counted!! p.s. His party received two seats on the city council, which the four candidates share.
Originally published in the Jewish Press on April 5, 2006. |
