Winners & Losers

The midterm elections made the news here, and around NDI people are pretty excited.

As an organization affiliated with the Democratic party, the change of power could mean more funding. The rise of Nancy Pelosi also comes as good news; when few others were discussing the struggles in Timor Leste, Pelosi was involved. Speaking before Parliament yesterday, the Prime Minister described his close relationship with the new House Speaker and offered his congratulations.

Those feeling the burn? Definitely IRI (International Republican Institute), NDI's counterpart across the aisle. The IRI Country Director hosted a party to watch the returns - complete with hor d'oeuvres and a Q & A - at the US Embassy, and he took the opportunity to grab the mike and assiduously educate the Timorese present about how there will be nothing but hideous deadlock if different parties controlled the House and Senate.

This was a pretty dumb message to send in a country that currently suffers from having a single, dominate political party (Fretilin), and not a particularly democratic message either. Mercifully, the translation left both the questions and the answers horribly garbled. I can only hope that the Parliamentarians and others present were, like me, tuning out and were instead transfixed by the big screens, enormous couches, excessive tinsel, chicken McNuggets and free soda.

A little slice of the ol' US of A in Timor Leste.