Italian parlamentary elections 2008

This morning I went to the Italian Consulat and voted. It felt great!

I had to go there because I had forgotten to tell them I had moved to a different address and they sent the electoral post to my old address, and only yesterday I realised that elections were getting closer. So I called them up and was pleasantly surprised by their efficiency and friendlyness - something one does not intuitively associate with Italian burocracy. They told me it was too late to post it again and if I could pass by the consulat to vote.

So this morning I got up a little earlier and got down there. I like voting, I believe it is a very important part of democracy. After all people have been fighting for it for so long. So I queued, then went in, received my envelope, went out, voted in front of the consulat and then brought everything in again and posted it in the electoral urn. One is not allwed to vote inside since there are CCTVs in each room, and your vote is secret. This is one of the things I have learnt today.

The other one is that Emanuele Filiberto, the grandson of the former king of Italy, is now on the electoral roll for the lower chamber! Ha!

A bit of history: Italy was a monarchy - the Savoy being the ruling family - until the end of the war, after which the country became a democratic republic and all mail heirs of the Savoy dynasty were not allowed into Italy any longer. They fought for this law to be changed, starting to raise public awareness about it in the mid 1990s. In 2002 this law was amended and they could go back. In the meantime Emanuele Filiberto's father, Vittorio Emanuele, had been in trouble with justice a few times maily because of corruption and arms trafficking. After they were allowed back in Italy, Emanuele Filiberto got married in Rome to a French actress, his father got into trouble in Italy because of luxury prostitution, he himself founded a political party and soon after that its former vice president was arrested for allegedly being involved in the mafia and another member of the party is on the black list for this year's Liechtenstein tax scandal. And now we can vote for him.

Yeah, politics and power and (il)legal business. They evolve but the essence stays. The funny thing though is that I still believe in democracy...

And btw - happy birthday Kris!!