You see, the last four years have been run by the Hungarian Socialist Party (M.Sz.P.) and the people have grown increasingly frustrated with the corruption and injustices happening across Hungary. Because of this, it was a fairly good chance that they wouldn't be re-elected.
(remind anyone else of another recent election?)
At any point, there were a good number of other parties vying for seats in the Parlament. You have the MSzP, Fidesz (they say right-wing, but their beliefs are more aligned to the left-wing in the states), Jobbik (the FAR-right aka the 'real Hungarians' aka the group we were worried about), the Green party equivalent and a small party, which was actually a combination of a small right wing and small left wing party (yeah, go figure, eh?)
Anyway, there was quite a bit of stress around this election. One reason is that MSzP lost supporters and everyone was worried they'd joined Jobbik. Jobb is "right" and these guys claim to be the "Real Hungarians." They are anti-foreigners and anti-Roma. Their solution to the Roma problem? Get rid of them.
The other reason is because Hungary has yet to adopt a new constitution since the fall of communism. There's always been too much disagreement to make one that could be voted upon. Everyone is hoping that now is the time, that there are enough people of one party in the Parlament to actually make headway on creating one.
This is something I've never had to think about, but could you imagine becoming a democracy all of a sudden and having to start over from scratch even though you've been around for 1093 years? Wow.
At any rate, the elections went extremely well and were fairly peaceful. Fidesz got about 54% of the places, with MSzP coming in 2nd with something in the low 20%s, and Jobbik was not far behind them in the high teens.
These were the preliminary elections. Let's say there are 4 people running for one spot in the parlament. If everyone votes and one guy gets more than 51% of the votes, he's automatically in. However, everyone votes and you've got a 40%, 30%, 20% and 10%... Well, it's back to the polls! On April 25, any precinct that didn't get the required 50% will have to vote again. Not sure if that means everyone is still on the ballot or if only 2 or 3... and what happens if someone still doesn't get 50%?
Well, my brain hurt, so I stopped asking questions :P
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In the country, if you have anything heavy to move, you move it by horse and cart. Most people in the country don't have cars, so when they find out that most of us get cars when we turn 16 blows their minds. They travel place to place via bus or train and skip all the expenses of owning a car. If only we could get the same going in the states... hmmm...
a nice shot of the Statue of Liberty :)
hiking up castle hill...
oh, look! there's my house!
Alen and I went on a little walk... en route, we found the sketchiest looking road ever. We decided we were feeling adventurous and wandered down it. And so, I introduce you to Alen, probably a subject in many of the upcoming stories because he was my traveling buddy for a few days. As always, you can click on a picture and it gets bigger - see? he looks safe, mom :)
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