by

Bystander

02/04/2019

“It’s pretty sad that the first time you ever voted was for the Waterschap”, joked one of my students as we closed the final meeting of the undergrad course I was tutoring this quartile. And while it did seem like an inconsequential ballot running alongside the clearly important provincial question, if it is the furthest that my passport would let me in, so be it! But what lies beyond the water administration, as far as political inclinations go?

That’s the thought I enter April with because later this month, a rather grand exercise of democracy is scheduled to begin in India, one I am sitting out. Of course, if you have a taste for sketch comedy (and dare I say the news?), you are already familiar with bits and pieces, are somewhat perplexed by the cacophony, tired by the process and perhaps just amused by some of the peculiarity; essentially if the Brexit-never-end-um were to be squeezed into a few weeks.

When we had last held these general elections in 2014, I had little desire to vote on account of practical excuses (in hindsight probably just excuses). Little did I know that in five years I wouldn’t be participating due to more legitimate practical considerations, mostly the distance. Hindsight is 20/20!

Meanwhile, for the lack of a better role, I’ve been a perpetual bystander to all sorts of electoral proceedings here in these last few years, seen social media turn the whole thing upside-down at times, noticed an innocent enthusiasm for referendums, and generally puzzled at how votes are still cast using paper ballots. Each poll is a brief peep into a people and the campaign this month is merely allowing me a glimpse into my own, still only as a slightly anxious bystander.

The Waterschap episode was but a test, to just experience how easy making a semi-informed decision on a candidate can be, to not be a spectator for once. Writing from the strange comfort of a frayed armchair however, I can only hope that my next vote feels and perhaps does slightly more than that, be it here or someplace else.

Share this article