Election Campaign: The (Cash) Value Of A Vote.

The election campaign is one of the rare moments when politicians truly remember their constituents. Electoral promises, gifts before the winter holidays, warm handshakes are just some of the tricks the wannabe members of Parliament employ to ensure the voter"s appreciation. Candidates seem ready to stop at nothing to secure every single vote they can and will eagerly disburse both food and cash in exchange for one more chance to the comfy seat in the Parliament Palace. Trucks full of cabbage, potatoes, sugar, cooking oil, umbrellas, raincoats and many other products are crossing the country width and length to lure voters. Concerts are organized in every town: pop music, folk music, Romania"s cheap adaptation of oriental music... it matters not as long as people are happy and ready to vote.

"He gave me a bag of cornflakes and said I should vote for him," said a woman from Prahova. "For a million (i.e. old lei), maybe... That"s what I heard they pay nowadays... But for a bag of cornflakes???," she added. Another lucrative idea of an electoral gift - actually a legacy practice from the previous elections - is to give voters a pair of shoes: the left shoe before they vote and, if the vote "right," the right shoe afterwards. But some prefer cash. The market rate for one vote ranges between 50 and 200 lei. But it"s worth it. As little as one vote can influence the result of an entire constituency. For the right price.

What to do, what to do? A candidate eager to ensure success would "procure" some blank ballots and a stamp (the layout and content of the stamp and ballot are public information), go to the village pub and ask customers a simple question: "Do you want to make some money out of this election?" If you have a symbolic pension, a rising gas price to deal with and three mouths to feed at home, the answer is quite simple. Then comes the instruction: "You go to vote. They will give you a blank ballot for you to stamp. You go into the booth, you take the ballot I"m giving you now from your pocket and you put the blank ballot from them into the pocket. Then you put my ballot into the ballot box and come back to me with the blank ballot they gave you. Then I"ll pay you two million lei (i.e. 200 new lei)."

What to do, what to do? "With two million lei, I can live for a month and my vote is worthless anyway..." Done deal.