Dilemma of a Kuwaiti voter
As the time is nearing to cast most sacred
vote to elect new members of national assembly, some Kuwaitis are more
perplexed, confused and facing the worst dilemma of their lives as to whom to
vote for or not to vote for that matter to be honest but hardly anyone will
admit it so bluntly and nakedly as it is being elucidated in the subsequent
lines. The situation of the voter has not just worsened but multiplied to a
very great extent not because of his own actions and or contributions but
because of so frequent and exceptional elections held in Kuwait in recent past
which is not the case in most of the countries which boast like Kuwait to be
democratic in nature. Undoubtedly each and every time voters have faced such
like ugly situations which are very much unavoidable in any case.
Each one of Kuwaiti national who is legally
entitled to vote irrespective of the fact whether the voter is male or female,
married or unmarried, governor or governed, educated or uneducated, healthy or
sick, white or black, rich or poor, tall or short, employed or unemployed and
or living in villa or flat will be casting his or her vote on 27th
July, 2013 to elect new MPs. The activity of voting, which on the face of it,
looks to be an ordinary, casual and simple in nature but in fact it is not so
rosy as one may think of, rather on the contra, it is one the biggest crossword
Kuwaiti voter is facing in the given situation at least from morality point of
view if not otherwise. There are so many conclusive reasons and compelling
circumstance which in turn bother Kuwaiti voter how to vote for someone and
that too on purely merit and merit alone which is being explained over here and
it can be said with full conviction and confidence that each of the voter is in
a great fix whom to vote and whom to ignore. I am going to side with the poor
Kuwaiti voter residing in an area which falls under constituency number five
where he is really facing too many odds though his compatriots residing in
other constituencies are not trouble free either. Here around 150 contestants
are in the run against 10 seats allotted for the constituency and each voter
has just one vote to vote so he under the given circumstances is really facing
an unexplainable situation. The voter should have visualized and thought of it
much before attending the 1st election meeting rather than feeling
ashamed at this point of time when nothing can be done to correct his status
whatsoever even if the voter very sincerely wants to be very strictly straight
and upright in his action.
Election activities started many days ago
both officially and unofficially which is quite but natural and almost each
contestant has already conducted so many formal and informal meetings and since
thousands of people have attended the same meetings which to some extent gave
an impression to the contestant that bulk majority, if not all, who attended
the meetings will be voting for the contestant. Having seen that thousands of
attendees not only drank cold drinks, juices and tea but also enjoyed eating
varieties of mouth watering cookies and sumptuous dinner I am siding with the
contestant to gather such an impression that the contestant is quite popular in
the constituency but regretfully it is no so as one sees on face of it. If just
a few people had attended the 1st election meeting then the poor
contestant had thought hundred times what to do next or what not to do next but
ever since the contestant witnessed very huge attendance he naturally was
obliged to go ahead with more vigor, vitality and new impetus. However, the
contestant must have been sharp enough to truly gauge the situation and had
realized that all those who attended his 1st political gathering are
not necessarily his voters rather the situation is very much liquefied and
slippery but the contestant did not think alike and the result is that he
thought himself to be the most popular contestant in the run. Here the
voters are to be blamed and not the candidate.
The contestant is very much impressed with
the election slogans, billboards and advertisement in newspapers and hence
knowingly or unknowingly he goes to attend an election meeting which is not a
joke to organize simply because it not only needs some intricate logistics but
also huge amount is to be spent on it. The voter who is completely alien to the
contestant was too interested to listen as to what the contestant had to say.
He very thoroughly read his election manifesto and tried to critically analyze
the same before the candidate could appear on the podium to deliver his speech.
The voter listened to the fiery speech of the contestant and he was so much
impressed that he started tilting towards the contestant and at least thought of
remembering him on the Election Day.
Then there are some other factors also
which both directly and indirectly influence the voter so far as his casting of
vote is concerned. The worst hit is that Kuwaiti voter whose very close
relative is contesting election and now the voter is in a fix what to do at
this point of time because on one hand he has just one vote to cast while on
the other hand his relative is pressing him hard to vote for none but him and
him only even if he is not the most suitable contestant. Then the same voter is
facing another awkward situation where one of the contestant had been a school
classmate of the voter and therefore the voter has some soft corner for the
contestant and feels like voting for his class fellow irrespective of the fact
whether the contestant is competent or not. Yet another very difficult
situation has cropped up for the voter because luckily or unluckily one of the
contestants is living in the same complex where he lives and hence how can he
ignore the candidate whom he meets too very often be it morning, noon, evening
or night and it is almost impossible for the voter to shy off from the
contestant. One must feel pity for the voter because his employer has asked him
to vote for some particular candidate and he is much worried and cannot figure
out if he can refuse his boss not to vote for his nominated candidate but the
question is can he afford to offend his employer. How could the voter be
discourteous to the lady who approached the voter introducing herself as a
contestant and wished that he should not forget to vote for her as she promised
to take care of all those who reside within the territorial limits of the
constituency? He who had already been struggling whom to pick from so many male
contestants is now really feeling the heat how to ignore this lady who is the
only female contesting election from his constituency. The voter has been
approached by the contestant who has won in last four elections in continuity
so apparently he is quite deserving candidate and it will not be that easy for
the voter not to vote for the one who has proved his suitability and popularity
in earlier four election so how and why he can be ignored. The voter has been
receiving both emails and messages on mobile telephone from contestants so
quite naturally the contestant is not that unknown like before and hence has
earned some favor of the voter. Last but not the least, is the candidate who
some time back had invited the voter to his house on lunch and now the poor
voter is completely clueless how to ignore the dishes he has eaten at the house
of the contestant unless he wants to prove himself as an immoral person by not
voting for the contestant. Why did he eat lunch at the house of the contestant,
voter now curses himself?
Last but not the least, the poor voter very
vividly remembers whom did he vote for in the last four elections and as the
bad luck had it one way or the other none of them for whom he voted for were
elected. He had been too choosy in the past to be dead honest while picking up
the candidate for whom to vote and each time he had been very much judicious in
picking up the contestant and each time he had very strong feeling that his
choice will be elected but it did not happen so. Quite naturally now the voter
doest want to eat dust for 5th time in sequence and instead wishes
that he should vote for the one who is to be elected and not defeated.
Who can solve the riddle and enlighten the
voter as to whom he should vote for keeping in mind that the voter has just one
vote to cast and he is really very much hard pressed because each of the
contestants have some claim upon the voter?
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