During our Pre-Service Training before officially becoming Peace Corps Volunteers, we were taught language to explain Peace Corps and how it works. The first Q&A we learned was: "Ce este Corpul Păcii? Corpul Păcii este o organizație guvernamentală din SUA, independentă și apolitică.” "What is the Peace Corps? The Peace Corps is an independent and apolitical governmental organization from the US." This means that Volunteers also commit to being independent and apolitical. We are here to do direct service in our communities, to share broadly about American life & culture with the locals, and to share back with Americans about our host country's life and culture. We're not here to promote specific political parties, candidates, or narrow issues. This year has presented some challenges to Volunteers in terms of practicing apolitical communication. People around the world, including here in Moldova, follow the US election closely. Thus, I am often asked about it by my colleagues, friends, students, and even strangers. In Moldova, we are eight hours ahead of Central Standard Time. This means that we woke up to the election results coming in and Hillary Clinton called Donald Trump to concede the election around 10:30 am our time. It has been a long day of phone calls, messages, and in-person conversations where we do our best to keep our personal politics private in terms of who we voted for and any party affiliations we have. While we may talk about big-picture political ideas (for example, whether we value voting, whether we ourselves voted, human rights in general, gender or racial equality), we don't discuss specifics. Interest in the US election was ramped up a bit due to the current election happening in Moldova! Had you heard about this historic election? For the first time in 16 or 20 years (depending on who's reporting), Moldovans are voting directly for their president. This direct election for president takes place in two parts: First, there is the election with all candidates; then, the top two from that election participate in a run-off. If a candidate receives 51% or more of votes in the first election, the run-off is cancelled. Previously, people only voted directly for their mayor. For all other offices, they voted for their political party, which then appointed people to positions. How many positions the party could appoint depended on what percentage of votes they received in the election. The parties in the parliament would then have to form a coalition to elect the president. Image downloaded from here. On Sunday, 30 October, Moldovan citizens headed to the polls. An estimated 49% of eligible voters participated. While there were initially twelve candidates wanting to run, on election day it was down to 9 who were officially on the ballot. Igor Dodon (Socialist Party) won first place in the election with 48.5% of the vote. Maia Sandu (Action & Solidarity Party) won second place with 38.2% of the vote. This Sunday, 13 October, the run-off election will take place. Igor Dodon on the left, Maia Sandu on the right. Image downloaded from here.
We Volunteers in Moldova are living through three important elections in two weeks. Both countries - our home country and our host country - had/has the potential to elect their first female presidents. Both elections are important to the citizenry. While I maintain an independent and apolitical stance in communicating about the elections, I am certainly very attentive to them, hoping that all voters are able to exercise their right to vote and that both countries experience peaceful transfers of power.
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Rebecca LehmanHealth Education volunteer serving at Boris Dînga Middle & High School in Criuleni, Moldova. Archives
May 2017
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