pa'lante presidente

Just a quick note about politics. The Presidential elections happened on Friday, May 16, with the three candidates:
Leonel Fernandez - purple party
Amable Aristy - red party
Miguel Vargas - white party.
When discussing politics with a dominican, your best bet is to simply ask, "what color are you?". The political season has been quite entertaining, but I am glad that it is finished. Leonel won, so will serve another 4 years in office, time to finish is beloved Santo Domingo metro project. During the season I saw food thrown out of trucks, was handed a "mini pharmacy in a box" by a political party, saw representatives from one party purchasing the ID cards of voters that might not vote for their candidate, endured many, many loud rallies and trucks passing with music and political messages and danced to the Leonel song produced by the beloved group "Omega". I also managed to collect a few flags that hang proudly in my bathroom.
Peace Corps has us on "standfast", meaning we cannot travel right now due to post-election celebrations. Apparently they are known to get violent.
As far as voting goes, one must go to their birthplace to vote, hence election day was a holiday and people still tend to be traveling. Many do not vote due to the distance they must travel. Political parties sponsor transport, but only if you'll vote for their candidate...
ah politics...