Tuesday, March 25, 2014

We have a result!

Our voters don't like change either...
... which did not go our way unfortunately. After an exciting election campaign and an exhausting election day, I'm still too knackered to go to zumba!

Thus the peuple voteth, spurred by Fear that the Agglo Cometh, and reminded at every opportunity by the outgoing maire of the Dangers of Change. In fact, the Agglo cometh not and there'll be change whoever's in charge because of national social housing regulations and building contracts already signed, but let's not nitpick...

The run-up to the election was mad. We dashed around delivering tracts, going door-to-door, having meetings, and culminating in a public meeting in the sports hall. After a tentative start, the questions started and one guy provided endless entertainment and ambiance by keeping on and on with his question oblivious to the fact that he hadn't understood one word of the explanation presented previously.

There were members of the other team there too who did their best to rabble rouse, but all it did was encourage gales of laughter and much noise from the partisan members of the audience. I never knew politics could be such fun!

I did two runs of delivering pamphlets (tracts) on Wednesday and Friday, hurrying up and down the hilly roads to post them all between working hours. I didn't need the zumba that week!

Sunday was Election Day. I spent four hours collecting signatures from voters after they'd voted, in the official register aide by a nifty ruler than had a window the exact size of the box to be signed. The person next to me read out the page number and voter number and name so I really couldn't get it wrong! At the end of four hours though, my head was reeling with a jumble of figures.

We had been told not to leave the table to partake of the buffet laid on by the mairie. You never know what might happen... So I ate before my stint and waited until I'd finished to grab a coffee and slice of apple tart. A peek in the fridge showed a tray of charcuterie and another of cheeses which looked really good. Had I been alone in the room I might have grabbed a doggy bag (as I paid for it out of my taxes!), but I was not, so sadly shut the fridge door.

When 6pm arrived, I was on duty to count the votes! First the number of signatures had to correspond to the number of envelopes before we could get our hands on them. Then the envelopes were gathered into bigger envelopes in groups of ten. With nothing missing or added, we set up tables of four to count the votes. The room was teaming with members of the voting public who were monitoring closely what was going on. They made quite a noise too.

I was ticking off the votes as they were called out by the woman on the other side of the table. The woman next to her was opening the envelopes, and the woman next to me was also ticking things off. We got to the end and already had an inkling of the final result but were not allowed to say anything to anyone outside the room - no text messages, no calls giving an indication of the result. Serious stuff!

The final result was revealed back in the sports hall. We didn't do too badly in the end, getting just over 42% of the votes. The turnout was much better than average. The fact that there were two lists motivated people to brave the biting wind. As a new team, we did well. My DB reminded me that politics is a long-term game and we had only been really active for a couple of months. Five of our team are on the local council, and the rest of us will be following progress and providing a robust opposition - critical in a democracy even if it annoys the hell out of the new maire.

I know of one maire who decided to step down after two mandates because he said he had come to the point where he knew the files so well, he couldn't stand being criticised or opposed. Better leave while the going is good than cling on and get increasingly tyrannical. More maires should follow his example. In fact, there ought to be a limit to the number of consecutive mandates permitted.

So I will not be on the council this year, but I have really enjoyed the whole process, and made some really good friends who I'll be seeing on a regular basis as we develop into a viable opposition. As our candidate said in his final speech: we won everything except the election.

We'll be back...

10 comments:

  1. But you have five members on the council...for a recently founded group that is real progress against an entrenched power base.
    Now just make sure you keep up the pressure......

    I did a Presidential election count - probably illegally - and loved every minute of it, just the way you described it.

    After the U.K. counts I had attended it was like counting in a bear garden!

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    1. Yes a bear garden, that's it! The guy who trained us assesseurs/scrutateurs used to participate in the elections in Carcassonne and said you wouldn't believe the dealings that went on. Ours was much more bon enfant thank goodness!

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  2. I can sense how exhilarating this was for you. I think my son, with his interest in politics, should try and become involved in local politics in some way, to see the process at grass roots level.

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    1. Definitely! It's a lot of fun and you get to meet so many people. There are so many aspects in a campaign too - campaign strategy, communication, identifying the issues, talking with people who have expertise in the areas that concern the local dossiers.

      I'm not sure it would be so amusing at the national level, but down at the grubby local end, you can really find much to entertain. :)

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  3. I'm so sorry about that!!! Change, not change, it always changes and then doesn't. We won our election with our person Jean and she has been a complete disaster so that will be an end to our political career. Get back to Zumba - you should be the next Mayor (or the top position) and you will need to be fit

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    1. Haha, I finally made it back to zumba last night and they said "Where have you been??". Nice to be missed. :)

      I don't want to be the next mayor, not at all. Way too much work and responsibility! And too many ghastly meetings. :)

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  4. I am really impressed that you are so actively participating to your local life. Wow! That said, it must have been quite a ride. So, have you caught the bug? Will you run for Mayor next time?

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    1. I did have a good time, and will be keeping my eye on things from now on. I don't want to run for mayor as that is so not my thing! It's a really tough job and I have quite enough on my plate. Also, our candidate is just right for the job, so hope he gets in next time! :)

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  5. Sorry you weren't elected, Sarah, but well done for standing and as others have said, there's always next time. You obviously enjoyed the whole process very much and i found your description of the proceedings really fascinating. I just can't imagine the same kind of involvement and party atmosphere in UK local elections.

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    1. Thanks, Perpetua. It was really interesting, and great fun. I don't remember ever voting in UK local elections.

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