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Blog: If only

Lately, I’ve been thinking of the recent Dutch general elections.
Leonardo Medina Santa Cruz

About how exceedingly smooth the whole thing went. A mere couple of hours after closing the booths, exit polls already showed a clear winner. One that was officially confirmed before dawn.

No one dared to question the results. No marches for discontent nor demonstrations were planned by irate citizens. And the full extent of controversy rested on a harmless Twitter post from a respectfully stoic loser stating Dutch politics are ‘not rid of him yet’.

My home-state governor elections could have gone that way, of course.

And they would have, if only several candidates hadn’t proclaimed victory before actually knowing the true results. Or if the preliminary counting hadn’t marked an outcome contrasting the one later announced.

Of course, my home-state elections could have gone as swiftly as the Dutch general elections.

If only ballots hadn’t been stolen and later found thrown in the streets, garbage cans and recently put-out bonfires. If a big, resealed hole hadn’t been found in the room ‘safely’ guarding them. If not a single ballot stamp was broken before due time.

If the opposition hadn’t claimed to have proof of fraud only to fail in clearly showing it afterwards. If they hadn’t left the official counting process based on the professed myriad corruption anomalies, rather than staying there to record them.

If the alleged winner wasn’t evidently supported by the present governor, a proven thief who has stolen millions of dollars. That is hundreds, probably thousands of millions of dollars.

If the governor’s brother, also a previous governor and thief, was locked behind bars where he belongs, rather than fuelling the mishmash by yet again running for public office.

If all these shameless treacheries had been properly informed by the local press, instead of social media users. If only the whole thing wasn’t a labyrinthic sham almost intended to keep people blindly wandering through the dark as they attempt to recognise the chaos.

Of course, my home-state elections could have gone as smoothly as the Dutch general elections.

If only…

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