Voting Day: Peru's Political Circus

Today is election day in Peru, and in Lima that means that all of the almost 9 million residents will drag themselves to their polling place to fulfill their civic duty. Elections in Peru are compulsory, and those who can't or don't vote are slapped with a fine of S/. 74, or around $25. Though the amount of the fine is trivial, waiting in line to pay it at the Banco de la Nacion is punishment enough.

People wait in line at the Banco de la Nacion

What are the people voting for today? A handful of city councilmen who will serve for less than 4 months, when a new election will be held. Many ballots today will be left blank or purposely spoiled with drawings - the only way for Peruvians to express their contempt of the political system here while avoiding a fine. However, if more than two thirds of the votes are left blank or spoiled, the election results will be voided and new elections held – a strong disincentive for many voters, as no one wants to repeat this process.

The election will cost the city around S/.100 million ($40 million) – that's S/. 4.5 million soles per councilman, or over S/. 1 million per councilman per month served. This in a country that has a GINI coefficient of almost 50, making Peru more unequal than Mali, Pakistan, Russia, and Burkina Faso, to name a few.

In addition, the Peruvian transit system is not set up to handle all the extra traffic, which means huge traffic jams, packed buses, and a sea of miserable people who would rather be anywhere else on what for many is their one day off in the week.

To add insult to injury, in order to ensure "fair" elections, Peru has a ley seca, or "dry law," meaning alcoholic drinks cannot be sold to the public from 48 hours prior to election day until noon of the day after. While I understand the intent of the law, I believe that 48 hours is excessive, and I don't understand why people can't buy a beer after voting. Sheesh, at least give them that!

Translation: With the candidates we've got, you need liquid courage to go vote

Peruvian elections are a joke anyway, and this one is no exception. Peru has a long and well-documented history of political scandals, nepotism, corruption, and trying to buy votes with public works (whose contracts often go to companies owned by friends or family of the politicians) and passing out free food to the poor (these donations abruptly cease after elections are over). The Peruvian people have no faith in their politicians or political system, and why should they? In the last presidential election, the daughter of Alberto Fujimori, the ex-president currently serving 25 years in prison for human rights violations, was only narrowly defeated by current president Ollanta Humala. Another ex-president, Alan Garcia was re-elected for a second term despite a disastrous first term marked by extreme inflation (leading to the national currency being replaced twice), soaring poverty, and human rights violations. Every week, a new scandal surfaces. In addition, congressmen earn around S/. 17,000 (over $6k) every month, aside from other income garnished from pet projects or outright corruption. Compare this to the minimum wage of S/.750 ($250).

Is there hope for Peru? I don't know, but as long as the status quo is maintained, I wouldn't hold my breath.

Psychoanalyzed: Job Interviews in Peru

Recently, I had a job interview to teach English to children at an elementary school here in Lima. The job has a lot of attractive benefits, such as a work visa and health insurance (and probably a livable wage), but the downside is that I would be teaching 30 kids. In every class. For 6-8 hours a day, 5 days a week. That's a lot of children, for a lot of hours of the week.

 

At least there would be muffins

Regardless of what happens with the job, the interview process has been quite an interesting experience. The actual job interview was fairly standard, and thankfully in English. However, for most jobs in Peru, you will also need to be interviewed by a psychologist, and you will feel like you're taking a trip back in time.

Psychoanalysis is still the name of the game down here, and in most interviews you will be asked to draw a picture, answer some questions on a psychometric test, and/or be given the Rorschach ink blot test. I was asked to draw a picture of a woman and write a story about her, then to repeat the process with a man. I have no idea what this is supposed to measure or if there is a right way to take the test. The only thing I know is that everyone, literally every person I asked, told me to draw the floor or the ground. Apparently, if your person isn't standing on something, he or she is unbalanced or has no security or some other nonsense.

 Kandinsky print featuring bacon

Then, my jaw dropped when the psychologist pulled out the Rorschach test. Are we living in 1960? Anyway, I was asked the classic questions: describe what you see, then what part of the ink blot you saw it in. Finally I was asked to choose my favorite and least favorite image and explain why. By the way, the psychologist didn't speak English, so this was as much a test of my Spanish as of my psyche.

Two dancing bears high-fiving in front of a sunset, obviously

I don't even have the slightest idea if I passed or not. While it was an amusing experience, it pains me to think that qualified, well-balanced applicants are routinely eliminated from consideration for good jobs based on a semi-scientific theory that was dreamed up by a 19th century coke addict and which has been pretty roundly discredited in the U.S. I don't know if I passed, but I'm not going to beat myself up if I didn't. I'm pretty sure I'm fine, despite what Herrs Frued and Rorschach might have to say about the matter.