Trofie Wife loves to vote, so it was unfortunate that I (not being an EU citizen) was unable to partake in the once-every-five-years European Union elections (I did vicariously participate by joining the Facebook group…). Official posters were affixed to a large metal billboard along the water and handbills were distributed at the Friday market. When Martello and I passed the billboard we were quite confused. It seemed as though all of the posters had been defaced with “Xs,” signaling someone’s disdain for a particular party. In this land of graffiti, that seemed like a plausible explanation. However, once I got my hand on a pamphlet, I figured it out: they use Xs here instead of checkmarks to encourage you to select that particular candidate:
Funny how the most subtle cultural differences can make you think…
As you may have read, in Italy, Berlusconi's party came out on top (despite all the looming scandals) and in general, the entire European Parliament moved further to the right, with some deeply scary, xenophobic parties making gains for the first time (particularly in England). They're stuck with these represenatives for the next five years, so we'll just have to wait and see how it all turns out.
Baci e gelato,
Martello e Trofie Wife
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