Arstotzka prepares for first democratic elections

[President Costava]

ARSTOTZKA - Grestin City is filled with the markers of a democracy in the making. Banners for the National Party of Arstotzka, a national-conservative coalition of right wing parties, compete for the attention of passersby with a honking parade of cars flying the flags of the Democratic Union of Arstotzka, a social-progressive coalition of left wing parties. 

 

Nearly everyone in Arstotzka's busy capital says they plan on voting in the first real democratic election in the country's history to be held on September 1st, 2013. And if the populace is unused to voting — it rarely participated in the political life of the Arstotzkan Soviet Socialist Republic, the country's name during the soviet occupation — it is getting a lot of help. For example, an entire wall of an apartment building above the Grestin train station is devoted to showing how it's done. "I put the paper in the ballot box," reads step 10 on the illustrated chart.

 

But politics is complicated. Many minor parties have formed coalitions and are vying for spots in the assembly that will write the country's new constitution. Many of them are unknown to voters, having sprouted in the democratic free-for-all that followed the end of the state of emergency and the martial law. "I have my ID card, and I'm going to vote. I've been waiting for it my whole life," says a passerby. But he has no idea whom he'll vote for. "I'm not going to lie to you," he says. "I can't read. So i will look at the symbol on the paper."

 

Still, Arstotzkans are a well educated people, and the country has a growing middle class. Those two factors, combined with a relatively smooth transitional period, poise Arstotzka to have a successful democratic process.

 

Edited August 28, 2013 by President Costava