Vote early and vote often!

Originally uploaded by Ron Combo

It's election time here in Italy. I am not going to try to explain much because (a) you are probably not interested and (b) even after nine years (and in common with most Italians) I understand very little about Italian politics. There are 16 choices for the voter under a proportional representation system. But these are not parties but coalitions. In total there were at the last count some 140-odd parties standing for election. This poster defines the coalitions just in this area of Piedmont. As you can see they are rather keen on rainbow colours and the hammer and sickle. Party No. 5 is Lega Nord which wants secession from the south (Rome the Thief!) and only two days ago its leader called for his supporters to take to the streets with their guns if the voting form (about the size of an unfolded Ordnance Survey map) was not reprinted to give his party more prominence. There's also a Cripple Coalition (No. 10) and No. 12 is the coalition of the Talking Grasshoppers. I haven't got the faintest idea either, before you ask.