On almost every street corner in the city you will come across a smiling face. Eyes staring at you, some with a unibrow and some with too much make up on. One wears traditional Kurdish clothes; others wear suits and a few try to do it very well; a poster in which they appear with a suit on and one with traditional Kurdish clothes. The streets have been decorated with flags in many different colors; each color representing a party. If I had not known better I would almost think that there is a party every night in this town.
The elections are coming up. The citizens may choose someone who will represent them in the Parliament. The only question is, how do you choose someone if the substantive issues they stand for are not clear? It seems as if the most important thing is ‘which face will lead me’ and not ‘what will happen to my country?’
But I was still curious to know how everyone would vote. I was wondering if they would merely rely on appearance or would they vote for someone they know. Maybe some have even looked into the substantive issues of all those faces. So, the last couple of days i got some hilarious and astonishing answers.
A family member told me that the whole city of Duhok was looking for that angel face. How come no one had noticed her before? They were speculating that she is an inhabitant of that city and he said; I think every man of that city will give his vote to her.
To be honest, I cannot remember who got my vote the previous elections. I think I gave my vote to someone who had a likeable face .I thought I had not engrossed myself in the whole decision-making process. But I know now that it’s very difficult to know what or where representatives of a political party stand for. Thus, electors vote for a random candidate of a political party rather for an individual candidate.
Now that I know that most people do what I’ve done the previous elections, I’m not sure whether I should repeat my actions or not. I would like to give my vote to someone who wants to plant more trees and reduce the number of cars. I like to give my vote to someone that wants to work on improving public transportation; a subway, trams, trains etc. Someone who has thought about a central connection of gas that reaches every home. That person must also stand for an independent Kurdistan of course. Though I have many more points to add but I’m not sure if I will ever find that candidate before the end of the elections.
I’m quite sure that I will choose a good looking face again. The only thing I hope is that this year’s elections will be calm and that it will be as democratic as possible. I hope that if I somehow didn’t manage to go vote they won’t send someone else vote instead of me and I wish every candidate will clean up their faces once the elections are over.
May the ‘best party’ win even though the real winners are flag and poster makers.
