All Politics are Local

Vlado's campaign headquarters

As previously mentioned in this space, a friend of Anne and Mark is planning to run for mayor of the city of Blagoevgrad.  Well, as of yesterday, the campaign for the election is now underway.  Now, keep in  mind that elections in Bulgaria are not the marathon process that they are in the U.S.  Instead the campaign started yesterday and the election will be in October.  (of this year)

So Vlado put on a rally to officially launch his campaign and Anne and Mark were honored to be invited (actually it was put on in a public square so everyone was invited, but still, it was nice to get the invite) even though they are not eligible voters here.

The actual rally started with some junior dance troupes - apparently intended to warm up the crowd.  After that frivolity, the political speeches began in earnest.

Go Punch Party!

All of the key members of the party got up on stage and Vlado began his campaign speech.  What was the speech about?  Anne and Mark were able to recognize the following words and can translate them to English: "Good day," "business," and "thank you."  What else was he talking about?  Ummm, let us get back to you on that.

As you can see in the photo above, Vlado brought his daughter Krissi on stage.  As you may imagine, political speeches may not be overly interesting for a little girl, even if such speeches are being made by her father and his friends.  Krissi paid attention for as long as she could, and then she stole the show by waving to the crowd.

You tell em Daddy.  Word!

We are happy to report that the rally was well attended.  Here is a photo that we took panning around the crowd:

Panning the crowd

Plenty of people there, as you can see.... hey - wait.  Did you see that?  The guy on the left with the jacket on...

Is that what I think it is?

Hawkeye nation?  No, Hawkeye Inter-Nation.

It is.  It's a Tigerhawk, one of the registered trademarks of the University of Iowa.  Go Hawks!

After the rally, Anne met up with the candidate and then a local band took to the stage.  Here's a taste of both.

Hey, Anne's back in Bulgaria!