ELECTION DAY

For most of us, in the States, election day is like most other days, except for the fact that you make arrangements to take about 30 minutes out of your normal routine to go and vote, then you go home and maybe follow the progress of the "scrutiny."

In Bolivia this is not so! This last Sunday, elections were held for two reasons:

First of all, the people were voting for those who will be involved in the writing of the new constitution. By the way, for those of you who didn't know, the MAS party (movimiento al socialismo) won about 60% of the seats.

Secondly, they were voting YES or NO for departemental autonomy. Boliva, is divided up politically into departments, but unlike the U.S. they do not have autonomous governments, and are governed by the central government in La Paz. By the way, NO won.

Now that is not necessarily what impressed me about election day here. What impressed us the most was the actual election day. You see, on Friday we found out that on election day (Sunday the 2nd), no vehicles are allowed on the streets and everything is closed. On election day, Cochabamba is like a ghost town! It was amazing how quiet it was, except for the noise a some kids playing soccer in the middle of the street, or families riding by on their bikes. What a contrast to a normal day in Cochabamba. We are already ready for the next election day!

A normal day in front of our apartment.

Election day in front of our apartment. One of the main streets on election day.

Butch and Trish