2015 Election

As I type this on a Wednesday morning at a coffee shop in Hanoi, I am reading online about the election results in the United States.  Specifically in Ohio, it appears that marijuana legalization will be voted down.  While I am indifferent on that issue, I think legalization is eventually coming.

But what strikes me is that in America, citizens have the opportunity to vote on this issue at all, that a group of citizens have the right to come together and say, "I think marijuana should be legal and we should put it up for a vote."  It is difficult to conceive that happening in Vietnam anytime soon.

Usually I would stay up late on Election Day and wait for the results to come in, so this is a strange place (Hanoi) and time (mid-morning) to read about things, especially being 12 hours ahead.  I also missed being in the States for election season more than I thought I would.  After all, it was probably one of more interesting off-year elections in recent memory.  We had the legalized marijuana debate raging across the state and on college campuses like Hiram, there were interesting school board elections at Crestwood and Garfield, the presidential candidates are debating once a week it seems, and we had State Senator John Ecklund and U.S. Rep. David Joyce on campus.

Vietnam does have elections for their national legislature, but they arerarely contested.  The drama of elections is kind of lost in a one-party state, although in the last legislative election there were a few "self-declared" candidates that actually won a seat.  As far as I can tell, the citizens vote on a legislature, who in turn rubber stamps the party-selected country leaders that are nominated by the country's communist party.  The last "election" in 2011 had a 99% turnout -- not bad, until you consider that many times, especially in the rural provinces, one person goes to the polls and casts the ballot for everyone in the household since there are not many candidates to choose from.

The real drama in Vietnamese politics happens at the Vietnamese Communist Party National Congress, where they select the leaders of the Communist Party (and in essence, the country's leaders).  The 16th Congress will happen in early 2016, but there has already been much political maneuvering behind the scenes.  If you're interested, you can click on this article: http://thediplomat.com/2015/07/vietnam-after-2016-who-will-lead/  The upshot appears to be that the liberal pro-Western wing of the communist party is consolidating power and will do well again, including nominating a woman for a top leadership and country post.