Šesti članek za Element.

Ponosen sem, da sem ta članek napisal skupaj z Moniko.  Torej, najin prvi skupni članek.

###NADNASLOV###
Skrivnosti idealnega partnerstva

###NASLOV###
Ljubezen. Temelj človeštva.

###UVOD###
Temeljna vrednota osebnostne rasti leži v srcu. Začenši z ljubeznijo, preko odnosa, komunikacije in do višjega biti, kar osebno opredeljujem s socialnim čutom.

Ljubezen gre skozi želodec, pravijo. Preko srca v možgane, oziroma pri nekaterih tudi preko možganov v srce. Vmes pa je še zelo neraziskana pot. Če govorimo o srcu, ne moremo mimo ljubezni. O tem je napisanih mnogo knjig, še več člankov. Vedno več je zakonskih, partnerskih oziroma ljubezenskih svetovalcev. Potreba ali poslovna niša? Očitno zaželena tema. Zato sva se odločila, da nekaj o tem napiševa tudi midva. Midva? Tokrat za spremembo dva. Je že tako, da je dvojina lepša kot ednina.

Njen in njegov pogled na ljubezen

Nekako lahko ločimo ženski in moški pogled na ljubezen. Seveda bo zvenelo preveč stereotipno, a skrajnosti imamo ljudje radi in bolj se nam vtisnejo v spomin. Ona trdi, da je ljubezen sposobnost imeti nekoga rad in hkrati biti ljubljen. Je nekaj, kar nas osrečuje, nas dela zaželene. Vsak človek ima v sebi željo po ljubezni. Ljubezen vsebuje veliko pogovorov in predvsem poslušanja, predvsem je treba razumeti njene potrebe. Ljubezen mora vsebovati veliko nežnosti, pozornosti in seveda je v ljubezen potrebno vlagati veliko.
On razume ljubezen predvsem kot sredstvo za širjenje svoje genske zasnove. Je neke vrste življenjska potreba. Seveda predvsem takrat, ko on to želi in ko se njemu zahoče. Če ona govori, ni nujno, da on posluša, vsaj zbrano ne. Ljubezen mora biti stvar njenega razumevanja, da ni edina na tem svetu in da tudi prijatelji igrajo pomembno vlogo v njegovem življenju. Če kaj, potem on ne razume, zakaj hodi ona v toaletne prostore s svojo prijateljico. Seveda lahko zapišemo, da se vloga nje in njega v odnosu zelo spreminja, da ljubezen postaja obojestranski interes, kjer se interesi enega in drugega težko ločijo.

Pet jezikov ljubezni

Med vsemi prebranimi deli o ljubezni bi lahko trdili, da je med najbolj praktičnimi zakonski svetovalec dr. Gary Chapman, ki razlikuje pet jezikov ljubezni. Če želimo partnerju pokazati svojo ljubezen, moramo zato uporabiti njegov jezik ljubezni, saj bo le tako sprejel naše sporočilo. In le z izkazovanjem ljubezni v pravem jeziku omogočimo, da ohranimo poln rezervoar ljubezni.
Besede potrditve in posvečeni čas
Lahko bi trdili, da so besedne potrditve vzpodbudne besede, ki izhajajo iz naklonjenosti partnerju in pripravljenosti, da pogledamo na svet skozi njegove oči. Gre za prijazne besede, pri katerih je pomemben tudi način, kako jih izrečemo. Ob tem moramo vedeti, da ponižne besede nikakor ne smejo zveneti kot ukazovanje, saj s tem lahko uničijo intimno vez. Je že tako, da prošnje omogočajo rast ljubezni, ukazi pa jo zamorijo!
Glavni cilj posvečenega časa je skupno preživljanje časa in ustvarjanje bližine, in to ne kot pasivno sobivanje, ampak kot aktivno posvečanje vse svoje pozornosti eni osebi.

Pomemben je občutek bližine, ki se ustvari s posvečanjem pozornosti.

Za dobro izkoriščen čas se moramo znati predvsem pogovarjati. Dober pogovor pomeni prijazen pogovor dveh oseb v prijateljskem vzdušju.
Na ta način si delimo izkušnje, misli, čustva in želje s partnerjem. Če je prvotni jezik vašega partnerja posvečen čas, je tak pogovor lahko ključni element v njegovem oziroma njenem dojemanju ljubezni. V dobrem odnosu igrajo veliko vlogo tudi skupna dogajanja.  Ni važno, kaj dva počneta, temveč zakaj to počneta. Dodatna korist skupnih dejavnosti je, da prinašajo banko spominov, iz katere lahko črpamo v prihodnjih letih.

Sprejemanje daril in usluge

Darila lahko kupimo, najdemo ali naredimo. Darilo bi lahko definirali kot nekaj, kar vzamemo v roke in pomislimo: »Mislil-a je name, spomnil-a se je name!« Darilo je simbol misli. Če se hočemo uspešno naučiti jezika ljubezni sprejemanja daril, moramo občasno spremeniti odnos do denarja in ga prilagoditi svojim zmogljivostim. Najmogočnejše darilo, ki ga lahko podarimo, je osebna prisotnost v težkih trenutkih. V SSKJ je zapisano, da usluga pomeni narediti za koga nekaj iz prijaznosti, naklonjenosti oziroma ustrežljivosti. Seveda se pojavi tu dilema, kdo je copata in kdo partner. Copata je brezoseben predmet, po katerem hodimo in z njim počnemo, karkoli si domislimo. Copata nima lastne volje in zanjo bi lahko trdili, da je služabnik. Ko ravnamo s partnerjem kot s copato, zanikamo ljubezen. Vzbujanje občutka krivde (»Če bi me imel rad, bi to naredil zame!«) ali uporaba ustrahovanja (»Še žal ti bo, če ne boš naredil tega!«) ni izraz ljubezni. Če se hočemo naučiti jezika uslug, moramo spremeniti naš odnos do stereotipnih vlog moškega in ženske v zakonu. Že prej opisane spremembe kažejo na to, da je pomivanje posode lahko tako njena kot njegova usluga. Izgovori v stilu ‘to je žensko delo’ ne obstajajo več.

Dotik

Dotik lahko ustvari ali razdre odnos med partnerjema. Lahko sporoča ljubezen ali sovraštvo. Otroci, katerih starši so jih veliko ljubkovali, držali za roke, so bolj čustveno stabilni v svoji odraslosti in v svojih odnosih. Telo je ustvarjeno za dotikanje, vse od bežnega dotika pa do spolnosti. Vendar se je potrebno naučiti, kaj je všeč našemu partnerju, saj ni nujno, da je obema všeč enako. Nekomu je že poljub v avtu ali držanje za roke na sprehodu dovolj, da je njegov rezervoar z ljubeznijo napolnjen do vrha.

Včasih ne gre vse po maslu

V življenju včasih stvari niso samo z rožicami postlane, kot večkrat radi rečemo. Podobno je tudi v ljubezni. Različni interesi oziroma pogledi pripeljejo lahko tudi do konflikta. Marko Iršič trdi, da večina ljudi razume konflikt kot prepir ali celo pretep, ter meni, da so konflikti škodljivi in da se jim je najbolje izogibati. Po drugi strani pa strokovnjaki ugotavljajo, da so konflikti v medosebnih odnosih neizogibni in da je ključnega pomena, kaj se z njimi naredi. Eden od štirih glavnih vzrokov za neuspeh v zakonu je namreč pomanjkanje spretnosti za reševanje problemov in konfliktov. Smiselno je torej, da razvijamo svoje sposobnosti za njihovo obvladovanje in reševanje.

Pomotoma izpuščeni tretji članek za Element.

###NADNASLOV###
Pozabljamo, kako imenitni smo in kaj vse zmoremo

###NASLOV###
Uporabimo naše možgane

###UVOD###
Verjetno premalo vemo o njih, vsekakor pa jih premalo uporabljamo. Ne verjamete? Ta tkets mva ne dlea pervlikehi tževa, čparve ni npiaasn kto smo naavinje. Mogoče se vam zdi čuden, vendar vam vaši možgani spet dokazujejo, da so sposobni več kot si mislite.

Največji problem osebnega razvoja, rasti, napredka, je vsekakor pasivnost. Cona konforta, ki nam preprečuje, da bi naredili korak naprej. In napačne predstave, pogledi, cilji in želje.
Dobrodošli v svetu zunanjosti!
Armani, D&G, Cavalli, Gucci, Prada! Frizer, stilist, pediker, kozmetičarka. Liftingi, lasni vložki, lipusukcije, barvne leče. Stotine, tisoče, milijone frankov, dolarjev, evrov, jenov zapravimo dnevno, mesečno, letno za svojo zunanjost. Da bomo lepi, da bomo dišali, da nas bodo opazili. Postali smo potrošniška družba dobrin, ki bazirajo na zunanjem izgledu. Bliža se višek potrošniškega paradiža, ko bomo obremenjevali svoje kreditne kartice, denar bo krožil hitreje, oči bodo kupovale več kot lahko um prenese in srce dopusti. Glavno vodilo bo: Nase vse! Kaj pa vase?
Spomin neverjetna sila človeštva
Vsekakor premalo vlagamo vase. Če se odkrito zamislimo, premalo skrbimo za svoje zdravje, predvsem pa v povprečju premalo pazimo na svoje znanje. Znate našteti zadnjih pet prebranih knjig, zadnje tri obiskane seminarje, da o strokovnih člankih raje ne sprašujem? Vem, da so poučni tudi filmi na televiziji, časopisi in rumene revije. Včasih se lahko veliko naučimo že iz prebiranja jumbo plakatov…
S stalnim izobraževanjem krepimo spomin. Svetovna revija National Geographic je pred kratkim izdala obširni članek o spominu. Najbolj poučno je to, da spomin ni večen. Tega se verjetno zavedamo, saj ponavadi pozabimo kupiti kaj v trgovini, koga poklicati in si zapomniti vse podatke, ki jih zahtevajo na izpitu od nas.
Kaj je spomin?
Kot pravi Josua Foer, je najboljši odgovor, ki ga ta hip lahko ponudijo nevroznanstveniki: spomin je shranjeni vzorec povezav med nevroni v možganih. Vse kar se spomnimo, pa naj bo to vonj po snegu ali okus babičinega najboljšega peciva spremeni povezave v našem obsežnem sistemu informacij. Včasih je razumevanje sistema delovanja naših možganov sila težavno. Zakaj se lahko spominjamo prvega šolskega dne, prvega poljuba in vseh obiskov pri sorodnikih v naši mladosti, težavo pa nam dela telefonska številka simpatične punce oziroma fanta, čeprav smo podatek izvedeli pred slabe pol ure? Verjetno bomo morali odgovor na to vprašanje prepustiti številnim strokovnjakom in raziskavam, ki se vsakodnevno ukvarjajo s to, še ne kilogram in pol težko gmoto v naši glavi. Hočemo, nočemo, spomin nam s časom peša, kar dokazujejo številne raziskave. Ko so ljudi v poznih letih prosili, da naj obnovijo seznam 15 besed, ki so jih slišali 20 minut pred tem, so jih bili sposobni v spomin priklicati le 60 odstotkov, medtem, ko raziskave kažejo na to, da so si dvajsetletniki zapomnili več kot 90 odstotkov vseh besed.
Česa je sposoben moj spomin?

Vsega, bi lahko rekli. Skoraj vsega, če smo bolj natančni. Ste se kdaj vprašali, koliko mestno število bi si lahko zapomnili, če bi vam narekovali števko na sekundo? Pet, deset? Petnajst bi bil verjetno že zalogaj. Dominic O´Brien ima trenutni rekord v pomnjenju. 74 mestno število. Na svetovnem prvenstvu v zapominjanju leta 1999 si je v eni uri zapomnil zaporedje premešanih kart osemnajstih snopičev (936 kart), ne da bi se enkrat samkrat zmotil. Kako zanesljiv spomin imamo, je lastnost vsakega posameznika. Veliko je dejavnikov, ki vplivajo na naše pomnjenje. Najbolj ključna je ravno sposobnost pridobivanja informacij, na to pa zelo vplivajo fizična in psihična kondicija vsakega posameznika. Seveda je pomembna tudi spočitost oziroma dovolj velika količina spanja. Vsaka naprava potrebuje za svoje delovanje določeno energijo, človeško telo ni nič drugačno, zato za sposobnost pomnjenja in mišljenja na sploh vpliva tudi dobra in zdrava prehrana.

Je možno imeti boljši spomin?

Vaja dela mojstra. Eden izmed praktičnih napotkov je vsekakor sposobnost miselnega povezovanja. Naslov v časopisu nas lahko spomni, da moramo iti na banko, neznanec na cesti je lahko opomnik, da moramo poklicati znanca.

Povezovanje je praktično pri pomnjenju imen. Rozamunda Petelintič je simpatična gospodična. Vendar je težava v tem, da si njenega imena ne moremo zapomniti takoj. Nič lažjega, bo trdil nekdo, ki zna dobro povezovati miselne vzorce. Prešernova Rozamunda je lahko iztočnica za njeno ime, priimek pa je sila prikladen. Petelin je domača žival, ni čisto ptič, je pa ptiču podoben, zato je tič. Vse kar si moramo zapomniti pri prej omenjeni gospodični sta najbolj znan slovenski pesnik (Prešeren) in najbolj znan slovenski skladatelj (Gallus oziroma Petelin). Enačba je preprosta: Prešeren + Gallus = Rozamunda Petelintič.

Spomin za mišljenje. Na veliko in kreativno.

Če že govorimo o spominu, je prav, da končamo z razmišljanjem. Misli na veliko, je dober nasvet za v žep plašča, s katerim je pametno hoditi po svetu. Misli na veliko, s polno mero kreativnosti pa bi bil verjetno moto Edwarda de Bona, po izobrazbi zdravnika in psihologa. Toda spoznanja teh dveh področij so ga vodila, da se predstavlja preprosto kot mislec. De Bono je ustvaril zanimive metode kreativnega mišljenja. Njegova predavanja so polna kreativnih nasvetov za vsak dan.

Nekoč me je v Avstraliji župan manjšega mesteca vprašal, kaj naj naredi s problemom parkiranja v mestu, ker tisti, ki se v službo vozijo od daleč, zjutraj zaparkirajo parkirišča za ves dan. Parkirne avtomate je verjetno drago kupiti in vzdrževati. Ugotovil sem: »Kaj je koncept parkirnih avtomatov? Da čim več ljudi zasede eno parkirno mesto. Namesto, da tam parkira en avto, želimo, da se jih zvrsti 30, 40, 50. In tako sem predlagal, da lahko ljudje parkirajo brezplačno – pod pogojem, da pustijo prižgane luči avtomobila. Pod tem pogojem hitro tečeš v trgovino in nazaj do avtomobila ter spet odpelješ, da ne izprazniš akumulatorja. Ko enkrat spoznaš koncept, lahko najdeš druge, morda boljše poti.

OCVIREK
Še ena de Bonova rešitev.
Kitajska ima ta trenutek 100 milijonov žensk premalo. Zato, ker so pred leti sprejeli politiko enega otroka. Ker pa družine želijo imeti fantka, punčke abortirajo, ubijejo ali izginejo. Če bi mene vprašali – kar me niso – bi jim podal drugačen koncept: lahko imaš toliko otrok, kolikor hočeš, dokler je tvoj zadnji fantek. Tako bi imeli enako število dečkov in deklic, nobenega ne bi ubijali, imeli bi v povprečju dva otroka na ter ne bi bilo primanjkljaja žensk. Veliko boljša ideja, toda niso me vprašali.

Image via WikipediaVeseli me, da del izobraževanja poteka tudi v praktičnem duhu. Tako imamo pri predmetu Mednarodne organizacije letos tudi simulacijo ZN.

Več o projektu.

Osebno zastopam Zimbabve.

Takole ostro je zvenel moj govor na odprtju Generalne skupščine.

Thank you, honorable Madame Chair, Mister Chairman!

Excellencies,
Distinguished Delegates,
Ladies, Gentlemen,
Brothers and sisters.

On behalf of the People and the Government of the Republic of Zimbabwe, I would like to welcome the opportunity to discuss child malnutrition, international sanctions and environmental refugees. We put a lot of hope in our meetings.

The motto of Zimbabwe is clearly the Unity, Freedom and Work. We strongly believe that if the world followed these simple rules, life would be easier and the world would be a better place to live in.

Zimbabwe, as well as Rhodesia was a rising star, with promising development possibilities, a clear vision and great future. Until the moment of the rude colonization, which destroyed the future of Africa.

Malnutrition is a complex problem and the situation is particularly critical for the developing world.

These are some words of a mother from Zimbabwe:
“My dream was to have a bouncing, healthy baby, for that is what every mother looks forward to, but because of the poverty, that has not been possible. I just pray that my little daughter will not die.”

Yes, ladies and gentlemen, children are dying also because of you. Zimbabwe is suffering unreasonable international sanctions, which do not allow us to make a clear vision of the development and international cooperation.

We are facing environmental issues, although the world needs to ask themselves a simple question: who is behind all this? Again, the answer is the developed world.

The possibility of introducing economic and other sanctions against a state that does not comply with demands of the Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter is a nice way of protecting the lobbies and the interests of those who have power in their hands.

How can it happen that a European cow is more protected than a human being in Africa? Feeding cows with a subvention, higher than 2 EUR per day is a simple act of the highest rudeness possible, knowing that people from more than half of the world, mainly from Africa, live with less than 2 EUR per day.
Africa thinks that we are in the situation when paying old debts is necessary. “You took our gold, our diamonds, even our people.” Let us face the truth.
All countries will continue with their efforts towards the goal of providing 0.7% of their gross national income to contribute to the development, regarding the Millennium Development Goals.

We need to be clear. Only to continue the efforts is not enough. Not for our Africa, not for the world and especially not for the ten children who died solely in Africa during my speech.

In these respects, Zimbabwe recalls the Millennium Development Goals,

I know one thing. The voice of Africa will be heard this time.

For a better tomorrow, for a better future.

Thank you very much!

Morda bo komu zanimivo. Vabljeni.

Širši opis projekta pa najdete tukaj.

Osebno trdim, da premalo naredimo na vzgoji mladih in aktivni participaciji mladih na tem področju. Slovenija ignorira nekatere zanimive programe za mlade na tem področju.

Prijatelj mi je poslal še drugačen pogled na situacijo v Zimbabveju. Včasih pač ne pridejo vse informacije do nas. Seveda pa je stvar presoje posameznika, kako informacije sprejema in v kaj verjame.

A lot of you have been calling, emailing and sending text messages from all around the world to find out about the on the ground perspective on the Zimbabwe election. Thank you so much for your concern, and indeed interest. I just thought I’d send a note to you all [and to others of your who may not necessarily have written but to whom I think that this subject for some reason or another may be of interest to you]. so i’ve written a little piece below to help at least share how i’ve seen and observed things from where i am. these comments are my reflections and perspective and are not necessarily the only truth present in this very complex situation. Some of my perspectives may not be aligned with what the news media are saying, and they may not necessarily be good news to read, or popular – but it’s how I’m seeing things and hope that it helps to understand our situation from a different angle. My point of view does not therefore negate other view points, nor do I claim they are the only valid experience of this rather interesting sets of events taking place. But hey, everyone is entitled to an opinion and to express it, right?

i hope (and am sure) at the end of it, we’ll be ok

Warmest wishes

please excuse typos!

There is a very interesting process which I have been so privileged to observe from a front row seat. As I write, election results are being announced from difference races across the country, they are appearing slowly, but surely. I think it is important to give a context to how this election has been set up:

There are 4 different elections happening simultaneously: local council elections, lower house parliamentary seats [House of Assembly], the Upper House of parliament [The Senate] and the Presidency. There are 1 958 local council seats up for election in 1 958 wards around the country, there are 210 House of Assembly seats up for grabs, there are sixty senate seats and one presidential seat. Now each one of these positions has at least two candidates contesting, with some having as many as seven candidates (and in other cases more). So there are a lot of people involved in contesting for all the elected offices in zimbabwe.

The post-voting electoral process

The process itself, that has come about out of a series of negotiations between the government and the opposition over the course of the past 12 months has meant that significant changes have been made to the electoral law in the country. New law requires that every polling station counts their ballots AT the station – this is in order to avoid rigging or tampering with ballot boxes in transit to any other location. This has been done in accordance with the law in every case. In a ward, you can get up to 3 or 4 polling stations depending on population data. In a constituency, you can get as many as 15 wards. This means that per constituency you get about 60 polling stations.

When the voting is done in that polling station, counting for all four seats begins – the local council, the lower house, the upper house and the presidency. For each candidate, there is a polling agent present to preside over the counting and to contest what they may deem to be deviations from due process or law. A result is only official when all the polling agents agree to it; hence in the case where there are disputes, this can take a while. Now remember, that this is happening for every single ballot, and every candidate’s representatives can argue their cause. When a final result is reached and agreed upon by all parties and everyone signs to confirm such, the result for that polling station is posted on the entry way to that station. The official result is then sent to the ‘Command Center’ of that constituency. So in each constituency, they would have to wait for all sixty or so polling stations to reach that agreement, and then send the results to a central place where they are collated, and again agreed upon by all the Chief Election Agents of the candidates [if they chose to have agents represent them] and then a final result is reached. So in these cases, you can imagine how long this process may take given that (i) this is the first time that this was done in Zimbabwe; (ii) as in a big sporting game, the world cup final or something, every possession is contested – the same with these elections.; (iii) in some of the rural constituencies [actually, in most of them] the roads are horrendous. In some cases, non-existent. So moving a distance of 30 kilometres can actually take as long as an hour and a half to two hours. So movement is slow and complicated. And there are no telephones or electronic communications.

So the process is a slow one, and I think most people are doing the best to get these results out as fast as possible.

I observed the process in three electoral constituencies in rural Matabeleland. In VERY rural places so I am writing about all of this from first hand experience. The polls closed Saturday at 7pm. In the one constituency we only got a final result (after the process above was complete and all agreed upon) on Monday morning. Another one only by Monday afternoon. Others are not yet complete.

The mistake most people are making is that they see the result outside one polling station, take that as the overall result and then cry “that results are out. Why are they not being announced” and are completely ignorant of the process that must be taken to ensure that all parties involved at that local level are satisfied.

Allegations of Rigging etc

The international news media is buzzing with stories about how these delays are being caused by the government trying to buy time and rig the election. I think that is all the elections I have participated in and observed in Zimbabwe, this has been the most free, fair and competitive election. There was almost no violence leading up to the election. For the first time, you actually had a lot of oppositions parties using main stream including government controlled media to campaign and having access to the electorate almost on par with the government [I saw almost, because the government always has the advantage of incumbency. If a government minister is commissioning a new project for example, that is a ‘national duty’ and not a political meeting so the electoral rules don’t necessarily apply, but any smart operator would use that platform to plug for their cause]. This doesn’t mean that everything about the period leading up to the election was fair, but I think the environment really has allowed for people to express their will.

Even the post-election process I feel has provided for much more fairness than before. What is really surprising to me is the extent to which immediately after the election was done, the main opposition (the MDC party led by Morgan Tsvangirai) went on a global media blitz claiming the election is being rigged and already setting up an environment for those who are either not really aware of the details of the process, or who are far removed from it to prejudge all that is happening. I was really surprised by this and think it to be a really sleazy tactic.

Rigging, if it is taking place, is not happening with people stuffing boxes full of paper etc. It is happening on very technical grounds where those who are least informed on electoral law and procedure don’t know how to play the game fully.

Most people reading this will be surprised by what I am about to say, but in my observations, I saw the greatest cases of foul play [call it rigging if you will] coming from the opposition. And their methodology for this is very sophisticated. Let me try and explain…

When we were children, there was a tactic where if there was a dispute between us as kids playing together, lets say, one kid hits another, the initiator of the transgression would run to an adult and cry the loudest and claim they were hit. The adult would run out in response and to the surprise of everyone watching would lash out at the person who actually was smacked in the first place, but it was too late, the initiative had been lost by the ‘victim’. It was a smart tactic which worked most of the time, but it left the person who was really hit feeling very, very unjustly treated.

A similar thing has happened in this election from what I have seen. The MDC has run out screaming that we’ve been cheated, there is rigging etc. they’ve smartly managed tog et everyone watching the wrong place while they smugly cook the books where they can. It’s a very close election in most cases so every point counts. Let me give you examples of what I mean, without mentioning specific locations and situations as this could have legal implications.

The widespread belief is that the government will rig the election because it is so popular that it cannot win the election fairly. They say it will rig it because it has deployed civil servants to oversee the election. In reality, the people who have the greatest animosity towards the government are civil servants. Teachers, Nurses, Police etc. they are the lowest paid people in the country and yet have the most expected from them. So we found in 3 places, and I think this is a sample behavior of what you would find nation wide, whereby you had electoral officials, employed by the government trying to work things in favor of the opposition.

In one polling station, where a government candidate had won and the papers confirming this were signed at that station, the delivery note meant to go to the Command Centre with the result ‘disappeared.’ There was a recount and a revisiting of the whole process I’ve described, the result again came out in favor of the government. Again, the delivery note disappeared. Eventually, the culprit was identified and arrested and the processes repeated once again and the result eventually went through. In that constituency, the government representative for that seat won, and there were incredible delays in releasing that data over endless, undescribed technicalities. Eventually, representatives from the electoral commission from the region’s capital had to be called in to settle it.

Another incident, there was a case whereby a person standing for office of the government had a comfortable lead in their constituency with a margin of over 1000 votes. Two wards were still outstanding [about 6 polling stations]. When results came in, the ZANU PF [the governing party] representative won one constituency, and lost the other. The margin of the loss was significantly smaller than one thousand. The candidate’s polling agent left the scene assuming victory. This was on Monday morning. Monday afternoon, we heard the results announced that the ZANU PF candidate has lost by over 2000 votes. Mathematically, this is not possible. There was most certainly an ‘accounting error’ in that case and the result will most probably be legally challenged.

The opposition has set up all of these ‘parallel’ structures to feed the word election results as ‘they’ see them. Some of them are so grossly wrong its disturbing. Yesterday they projected that out of 210 Lower House seats, the government has won only 50, the opposition 117 and the balance going to independents – which would of course mean a land slide for the opposition. As I type, about 90 results for the House of Assembly have been announced with 43 going to ZANU PF, 41 going to one faction of the MDC (Tsvangirai’s faction) and the balance to independents and the smaller MDC Faction.

One thing that is being done which could be seen as controversial is that the results in the early stages are being announced almost in a balanced manner – i.e., you announce one victory for the opposition, one for the government etc. one reason for doing this may be so that you don’t raise expectations of one side and then have a Kenya-type dispute when the final results swings in contradiction to early results. I think this makes sense because you do want to maintain calm in such a tense situation. Those advocating for this to be done “as results appear” seem to not have learned from what happened just north of Zimbabwe a few months ago.

I am sure there are cases of government (ZANU PF) rigging happening too, but I think ZANU’s mischief would more have been done before the election, in the process leading up to it rather than during or post the election. But I am sure others elsewhere have their own reports and perspectives to share on this, especially those participating or observing the election for places that overwhelmingly support ZANU PF, of which Matabeleland isn’t traditionally one of them.

Contrary to ‘popular’ expectations

Most commentators outside the country expect the ruling party and president to lose the election. The economic situation and an environment that actually allows more of a freer expression of people’s will are cited as some of the influencing factors in those calculations. This is plausible thinking to some degree. I did not expect the president to have any support in Matabeleland at all. Given the history of this region, given the economic situation and the strong support the opposition has always had here, I was surprised to see the results in some places.

You would see results in a polling station where the president won by a significant margin over his opponents. You would get some where he lost by a very wide margin, and others that were close. I certainly expected him to lose everywhere in this part of the country. It’s not turning out that way. In most areas here where I observed things up close, except for Bulawayo and urban centers, the presidential contest seems to have been between Robert Mugabe and Simba Makoni. Surprisingly, there is not much traction for Morgan Tsvangirai (which may be different in the northern and eastern regions of the country). In one entire constituency, Robert Mugabe beat Simba Makoni in the final tally of about 55 polling stations! It was a small margin but extremely surprising. In general, I think he will lose Matabeleland, but not by the wide margins people predict.

Where there is the greatest volatility in the election has been the local councils. That’s where you get the most surprising results with many, many incumbents being thrown out. In retrospect, it makes sense because those are the candidates they know the best, that have the most direct contact and influence and that people have some form of control over. Again, that surprised me, given that the elections have always been billed as a presidential contest primarily.

The funny thing is that, you have external commentators surprised by the victories that the government achieves despite the situation economically. I feel that most people who vote for the president or governing party candidates have really done so out of their will. Many have chosen not to vote [hence the low voter turn out] for whatever reasons. When you have a ‘democratic’ election, and the candidate that outsiders don’t prefer wins, there is always a problem. Ironically, those are the people who become hypocritical and do not accept the results. When Hamas won the elections in Palestine we saw the same thing happen. It’s really funny watching the perspective of the ‘western media’ on Zimbabwe. BBC, CNN et al have been giving some pretty hilarious (and infuriating reporting). Partly because of their obvious biases, but also because of their location – they are not on the ground in Zimbabwe (for various, debatable reasons).

There are all sorts of notorious reports out there:

The president has left the country – Not True

The Military has been ordered to announce the president the winner – again, I don’t think this is true. (http://www.swradioafrica.com/news300308/military300308.htm)

And so on … Most of these are not really true from what we can acertain, although confirming anything like that isn’t really easy to do.

There are reports of civil unrest, and the military and police on the street. That is CERTAINLY not the case. Definitely not the case in Bulawayo and from what friends are telling me, it’s not the case in Harare. It’s one thing to look for an interesting story. It’s mischief to say things that could lead to a tense (but calm) situation becoming tense and volatile.

I think if I called the BBC and claimed that I was being attacked by a Sabre Tooth Tiger sent by the government, I’d be on the front page of their website and on satellite TV within the hour!

It’s a pretty close election – I think it could go either way. You’ll probably get nothing more dramatic than a 55% — 45% margin in the final result as far as parliament is concerned. The same may hold for the presidency

I don’t think Robert Mugabe is going to lose. If he does, I think he will probably accept the result, but expect some trading to take place about a way forward depending on his margin of defeat. But I don’t think he will lose.

Well, my ‘few thoughts’ did become rather long and protracted – but other than that, we are all fine and awaiting the completion of the process with as much anxiety as everyone else.