The first round of elections 2002 have passed and, with the exception of a few surprises, the result obtained was very close to that identified by the research. We still have a long way to go until the second round and, about everything, until the effective inauguration of the next president: if chronological time seems exiguous, the complexity of interests will still cause many problems.
Certainly, many characteristics of these elections stand out and deserve our attention.; however, in view of the excellent quality of analyzes produced by intellectuals of much better caliber, I will summarize my participation by explaining what I saw as the elections unfolded. For this, tale with a double-privilege: on the one hand I am a political scientist – which allows me to see each event with a more specific look –, for another, I was able to participate in the elections by working as a poll worker..
For readers who don't know me that well, I must warn you that I am one of those strange Brazilians. There are two things I'm really proud of doing: pay income tax (because this means that I have income and that I can help a little with those who don't have it) and work in all activities that involve the exercise of citizenship and democracy.
After these initial warnings are over, I move on to my story. I was summoned to be 2º Secretary in an Electoral Zone marked by a good cultural and socio-economic level. The saga began at the training meeting: after a quick video simulating a vote and some explanations from an Electoral Court official, I was informed that, in the face of funding cuts, the small manual normally distributed to guide poll workers would not be distributed in these elections, but we could rest assured that a copy of it would be provided in day of the elections.
As I had never worked on elections before, I arrived at my section a little early, in order to know the minimum rules. To my amazement, He was precisely the person who most knew the issues, because she was the only one called for the exhibition video. After quickly reading some parts of the manual, I soon assumed the position of controller of the voting process. After the initial scare, I realized that the rules are not that complicated and that all you need is a little common sense.
Luckily, the team I had the pleasure of working with managed to carry out the work of guiding and maintaining the voting process with great ease, which did not allow keeping the shortest queues throughout the day.
By coincidence, all members of this section had the same ideological-partisan orientation, even so, ethics and a great commitment to the democratic process prevailed. All differences and difficulties were addressed in a neutral way. And it is precisely at this point that I would like to express my general impressions about the elections.
Despite being in an Electoral Zone with intellectualized voters, we had the opportunity to meet some voters who were illiterate or had low abstraction skills, something that made the voting process a little difficult. Some voters had no idea about the entire process, arriving with a “colinha” just for president. The number of positions made it difficult to fully understand these elections, something that was confirmed by the large number of votes in the party that we found in our area. Other voters even left the voting booth after discovering that to vote for president they would first have to vote for a series of positions..
Delicate guidance on voting procedures took up much of the time, when we had to explain how to vote. Some more impatient voters complained about the delay in voting because there were “stupid people”, who didn't know how to vote.
What I was able to see in these experiences was the ease with which it was possible to influence the vote of voters who had greater difficulty understanding voting procedures.. The ethics of the people I worked with, combined with the intense work of inspectors from two parties, conferred legitimacy on our section, but I wonder if the same thing happened across the country?
We have certainly made a lot of progress with regard to the procedures of Brazilian democracy (understood here only in its Schumpterian dimension), However, we are finding it difficult to get a large part of the Brazilian population to keep up with this pace, which can generate an abyss between the procedural avant-garde and political conservatism. More than qualifying voters to vote, The time has come to enable you to understand the real importance and consequences of your votes.
The historic moment is favorable and most voters were proud to be able to participate in this event. The general idea of democracy seems to be increasingly consolidated in the Brazilian imagination, apresentando as eleições como uma possibilidade de efetivamente influenciar sobre os rumos do país. However, para que esta imagem não se torne piegas em um curto espaço de tempo, teremos que nos ocupar com a melhora da conscientização de nossa população. Without it, provavelmente seremos incapazes de entendermos o mais profundo sentido da democracia.
Moral of the hist & oacute; ria: se com um voto podemos mudar o destino do país, com um voto consciente podemos mudar o destino da nação.
Council Liter & aacute; rio:
“Há diversidade suficiente na condição de fortuna, na índole, nas maneiras e costumes do povo das diferentes partes da União, in order to generate in its representatives considerable diversity of attitude in relation to the different positions and conditions that make up society”.Publius (Hamilton) – LX number, The Federalist Articles
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magazine Author
Pol & iacute; tica
Year II – N. 16 – October 2002
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