I’ve heard stories about elections that were rigged, even ones where dead people somehow registered and voted but, up until now, I’ve never heard of a case where someone who was taking a dirt nap won an election. The residents of a Romanian village have elected a dead man as their mayor.
From Reuters…
Neculai Ivascu, 57, who ran the village for almost two decades, died from liver disease just after voting began — but still won the election by a margin of 23 votes.
If you’re the loser, it’s kind of hard to put a positive spin on that.
“My opponent refused to talk about real issues. He took the low road.”
“It was a hard fought contest and now I throw my full support behind my worthy, yet departed opponent.”
“I know he died, but I don’t want change,” a pro-Ivascu villager told Romanian television.
Fancy that, a voter who does not want change.
In the end, election authorities gave the post to the runner-up, but some villagers and Ivascu’s party, the powerful opposition Social Democrat Party (PSD), have called for a new vote.
That brings up an interesting point; the dead guy’s own party is calling for a new vote. Think about that. The party knows that they won’t be able to manipulate the deceased. The party won’t have any influence at all over a dead guy.
The more I think about it, these people in this Romanian village might be on to something here. It just makes good sense to elect the defunct. The guy won’t be currying any favor to powerful, special interest groups. The chances of an embarrassing sex scandal are nil. The guy can’t embezzle money or hire a nephew.
In short, a dead Mayor won’t be making bad decisions.
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Tags: Dead, dirt nap, good sense, Neculai Ivascu, PSD, romanian village, social democrat party
Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com wrote,
I didn’t know it reached outside Romania, Jack…
Yesterday we made fun about the situation here. Sorry, I know it is not a situation to make fun of, but we just had a debate here asking ourselves how would they manage the situation since there is no law about this, it is a situation we haven’t faced before.
The guy died in the morning of the second round, so it was only him and the opponent. A third round wouldn’t have been quite recommended considering the trouble and tension, but I think that the solution was not the best. The fact is that the people voted for the guy after his death, as an homage, creating thus this situation. The guy was the present day mayor so he seems to have had some followers…
Now the guy who actually won losing is in a strange situation: he is there without people wanting him. A tough situation.
Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com’s last blog post..Why dreams die?
Link | June 17th, 2008 at 3:39 am
Pribek wrote,
Word gets around these days, Ovidiu.
The story in Reuters didn’t have a lot of details, didn’t even have the name of the village.
There are a few things I’m curious about. I don’t know how big a place this is, I’m assuming it’s small because of the use of the word “village”.
I have no doubt that people voted for the guy after his death as an “homage”, as you say, but is it possible that some did it out of protest for the other guy as well? If it’s a small town, everybody knows each other and this new Mayor may not be a popular member of the community. On the other hand, the former Mayor was obviously popular so maybe, no qualified opponent chose to run against him.
Might be that the best way is to just start the election process over.
How long is the term? Maybe, the guy will be a good Mayor and the whole thing blows over.
Link | June 17th, 2008 at 6:29 am
Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com wrote,
The name of the village is Voinesti, the name of the dead man is Neculai Ivascu, not that it matters too much, I guess. It is a small village, indeed. All the votes were around 2100, kind of shared between the two candidates. The candidate that died was the mayor of the village since 1990 so it is a very long time, practically that village didn’t know any other mayor after the events of 1989…
Very conservative…
I don’t think they will repeat it, I think there will be a bit of a discussion around the subject but it will remain like this.
Well, on the other hand, in my city, the mayor has just been elected for the fifth time, he is the mayor if I well remember since ‘92 and going strong since he won with 76% of the votes. Speaking of being conservative…
On the other hand, the city center is under major reconstruction, recently the whole center has been rebuilt and a brand new “singing fountain” has been installed right in the middle of the city.
Take a look at this, it is new and everybody enjoys it these days http://youtube.com/watch?v=aT40xhIn3Fk The cost was around 1.5 million Euros…
Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com’s last blog post..Why dreams die?
Link | June 17th, 2008 at 7:20 am
Pribek wrote,
“The candidate that died was the mayor of the village since 1990 so it is a very long time, practically that village didn’t know any other mayor after the events of 1989.”
Interesting-the only mayor that the town has ever had. It seems that after such a radical shift of political system and culture, people have a desire to keep something that is familiar or comfortable, maybe. Is that possibly what you mean by conservative?
Really though, 30 years or so, is a small amount of time in the big picture. When the whole system has changed, 30 years is nothing.
That is an elaborate fountain. It’s appears to be on a grander scale than any that I’ve seen. What is the feeling about spending that kind of money? Does it attract visitors and business?
Link | June 17th, 2008 at 2:04 pm
Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com wrote,
When I said that they didn’t know any other mayor I meant after communist society was changed. I guess people wanted to keep him because he did something for the community.
The fountain, for the moment didn’t change too much, even if my boss here asked me to send him this youtube link, I guess he will show it to his business partners:look where I have this business, you should come there too! We are here in a 5 years period where foreign investments are a common thing, European investments are common for building infrastructure, buildings, whatever they can. The fact is that there are money. Period. All you need to do is to come up with a clever project to attract these money. We are in the second year and 3 to go…And I did nothing so far ;-)
Ovidiu - GuitarFlame.com’s last blog post..Why dreams die?
Link | June 17th, 2008 at 2:59 pm
Pat Darnell and some Friends wrote,
LIST
– and –
…Own hands
Uh.. friends, have you forgotten modern trends? Please refer to Updates of Prib Posts… someone decided it is time to cash out. thank you.
pd
ps. Jack how does it feel to have a super reliable reporter right in the middle of the situation…? I think it is cool.
Pat Darnell and some Friends’s last blog post..Gina Provaccatoria reporting live
Link | June 17th, 2008 at 10:10 pm
Pribek wrote,
Yes, most cool having Ovidiu, our man on the scene in Romania, to give us the inside story.
Link | June 17th, 2008 at 10:18 pm
BNW Nagbe, Sr. wrote,
I assumed that the people in the Romanian Village, understood the the real meaning of love–that is the reason why they relcted their belove Mayor. We the reading public also need to understand that these villagers were not only acting on theirt emontional feeling but instead, their heart felt love for the Mayor.
Further, I would like to suggest that readers of this story should read Greedy Spider, a children’s book who refused to turn down any invitation, and enventually was unable to attend any of the Thinksgiven Dinner due greedness. Well, I am not saying the voters in the Romanian village are greedy but no-one like to see goodtime slipe away, and will do anything to hold on to power as a way of preserving power. To view Greedy Spider, go to Xlibris.com/GreedySpider.htlm or Google
Link | June 18th, 2008 at 11:02 am