THE ELECTIONS

The Chief of the village could not understand the meaning of the term ‘elections for Parliament’ while the messenger was giving him a verbal message sent to him from the Regional Directorate. He asked the messenger of the Regional Directorate to repeat what he had said. The messenger said: “You are asked to select one man from your village to be your candidate for the elections of Parliament members. The candidate should be over twenty-one, with no criminal record and literate.”
In fact, there were several words in the verbal message that the Chief could not understand. He asked the messenger to explain the meaning of the verbal message to him. The messenger explained to him that there are new procedures now for accepting candidates from small villages to participate in the elections of the parliament members. The Chief asked him curiously: “What is the meaning of ‘Parliament member’? Can you explain it to me please?” The messenger started to explain to the Chief the meaning of the words despite his boredom of this action because he had been repeating the same definitions to many Chiefs of many villages in that poor, undeveloped region which has no electricity, telephones or schools: “You know there is a big building in the capital called the ‘Parliament’. A few hundred members are elected every four years from all the districts of the country to be members at that Parliament.”
The Chief started to think: “It seems a good job in the capital.” He asked the messenger: “Is it a good job?” The messenger replied immediately: “Yes. It is a very good job because the salary of a parliament member is nearly ten thousand pounds, he has the right to import a modern car without paying taxes, he has legal immunity so that the policemen cannot inspect his house or car without permission from the highest authorities and he has free medical insurance with his family members in addition to an excellent reputation and esteem in society. So, he would meet the politicians, journalists and ministers sometimes, and he will be on TV sometimes”.
The Chief looked was flabbergasted for a minute and then he looked at the messenger’s face and he asked him: “The parliament member will take all that? But, what does he do? What are his duties?” The messenger replied with a smile: “He just has to sit in the Parliament, listen to those who speak about their plans to reform the country, change the laws or policy, then in the end he may approve on their suggestions, views and plans that or refuse them. It doesn’t seem like a difficult job, isn’t it?” The Chief’s eyes widened with astonishment and started to become brighter and full of desire, and then he replied quickly: “Yes. It is too easy compared with what we do here in this village. We have to work all the day in our lands to take care of the plants and trees, and all what someone can get per year is less than the monthly salary of the parliament member. We don’t have medical insurance or anything of what he gets”. The messenger laughed and said: “I know that. I hope someone from your village will win the elections and then become a parliament member”.
The Chief asked the messenger while his eyes were full of eagerness: “Can I become a parliament member? I am the Chief of the village here and I should be rewarded after more than thirty five years of serving all these people here.” The messenger replied with a sorrowful look in his eyes: “I am sorry, Chief. You can’t be enrolled in the elections at all because you cannot read and write. That is the only condition you do not fulfil. As I have just told you, the candidate must be literate”.
The Chief felt sad and upset when he heard that that, and then he asked the messenger: “We have only one man who can read and write in the village. That means we have to inform him directly to be a candidate for the elections.” The messenger said: “That makes your job easier. You should inform him and send him to the Regional Directorate in the town on the 5th of May; after twenty days from now. I have to go now to convey the message to many other nearby villages.”
The Chief went to Abdullah’s house immediately to inform him about what he has heard from the messenger. Abdullah listened to him and said: “Thank you Chief. I will prepare myself to travel to the town on the 5th of May. I hope I will be elected for the post”. Abdullah felt so happy and he thought that he was very lucky because he was the only literate man in the village.
The news spread instantly in the village like fire and within a few hours all the men and women started to envy Abdullah for being literate. Since they did not understand all the procedures of the process of the elections, they started to think that Abdullah would be certainly elected to be a Parliament member in the capital. Many people went to the Chief’s house to ask him about the details and the benefits that Abdullah would take when he becomes a parliament member. In the evening, many people were attending a meeting in the Chief’s house to talk with him about that matter. When the Chief finished explaining the matter to them, everybody was looking at Abdullah with envy and amazement. The Chief said to Abdullah: “We all congratulate you, Abdullah, for that post. You are the only one who can read and write in the village and you are a good man. You really deserve this post because you have studied hard to learn how to read and write.”
Suddenly, Khalil stood and said to the Chief with a loud voice: “No. Chief, you are wrong. Have you forgotten that I can read and write as well?” Everybody looked at Khalil with his mouths and eyes wide open without believing what he had said. Khalil said with confidence: “Yes. I can read and write very well. Abdullah: don’t you remember that twenty five years ago, when we were nearly ten years old, we used to go together to the neighboring village to learn how to read and write at the small local school? I can read and write like you, and I should be the candidate for this position”. The people started to whisper around him, and they did not believe him because no one had ever seen him reading anything. They all knew that Abdullah used to read some letters for them and he had some books in his house. So, they realized immediately that Khalil was lying because he wanted the post for himself.
Abdullah looked at Khalil and raised his eyebrows with an overwhelming astonishment because he could not believe what Khalil said. “You only went with me to attend some lessons at that school, maybe for one week” Abdullah said to Khalil: “You only learnt how to read two letters from the alphabet; only the letter A and B. You have never learnt the rest of the alphabet, Abdullah.” Abdullah replied quickly with a wide smile of confidence: “No, I learnt everything. I can read and write just like you.” No one believed Khalil, but no one dared to say anything to insult him. Khalil was the Chief’s cousin; he was rich and had strong influence on the people in the village. Many farmers used to work on his land to cultivate it and Khalil used to pay them the best wages and he sometimes gave them some loans.
Abdullah took a paper out of his pocket and presented it to Khalil, and said to him: “If you can read, read this paper to me please, Khalil.” Khalil took the paper from Abdullah’s hand without hesitation and looked at it with caution. He looked at it for a few minutes and could only recognize the later A and B in some words. Then he said to Khalil: “It is a letter from your friend. He wrote: “Dear Abdullah, I hope you are doing fine with your family. Why do you not write letters to me? I wish you come to visit me….” Abdullah interrupted him immediately: “No. It’s not a letter from a friend of mine. What you have just read it not what is written in that paper.” Khalil looked at Abdullah with a frown on his face and then he shouted at Abdullah: “What? Are you accusing me of lying? That is what is written in the letter. You are lying”. Abdullah looked at Khalil furiously, and he did not know what to say. There was no one else in the village to consult him about this matter because Abdullah was the only literate man in the village. Khalil was claiming that he was also literate. How could they resolve this matter?
The Chief stood between Khalil and Abdullah trying to calm them down and he said: “Don’t be upset, brothers, please don’t argue or fight here. We can try to find a solution for this problem.” The two men calmed down immediately for the sake of the Chief. Khalil said immediately: “Yes, Chief. I agree. You should find a solution for us.” The Chief said: “Yes. I will find a solution. Calm down now.” Abdullah and Khalil sat down. The Chief said: “We can choose either Khalil or Abdullah for the post. We can make local elections.” The people looked at the Chief with their enquiring faces. The Chief continued: “Yes. We can decide that after a few days. We can choose one of them for the post. I invite all the men of the village to participate in choosing a candidate for that post.”
Abdullah agreed for two reasons. He was confident that everybody would elect him because the entire village knew he was literate, and he did not want to disobey the Chief. Khalil agreed because he had other plans in his mind.
Khalil was the Chief’s cousin. He met him secretly and convinced him to help him to be elected. Khalil said to him: “You can visit me any time you like, Chief. You will be responsible for running my business in the village when I work as a parliament member in the capital. You will take a good share of the profit which I will get from my land. You can repay me the loan you took from me by small instalments every few months. I can even forgive you when you don’t pay if you don’t have money at all.”
Khalil met most of the farmers of the village and convinced them or bribed them to elect him instead of Abdullah. Most of them wanted to satisfy him because they needed him to work on his land or to take small loans from him. They believed strongly that if Khalil becomes a parliament member, they will benefit from that in different ways and they will have better relationships with him as he promised them.
On the day of the elections, all the men came to the Chief’s house in the morning to participate in the elections. The Chief met them in the small yard that was near the gate of his big house. The Chief stood on a small bench and said to the people: “We will choose now. Those who want Khalil to be their representative should come and stand on the right side of the yard. Those who want to elect Abdullah should come and stand on the left side of the yard.”
The villagers started to move to the both sides of the yard. After a few seconds, the Chief looked and saw that most of the villagers were standing on the right side of the yard. On the left side of the yard, only Abdullah’s relatives and close friends stood on the left side. The Chief smiled and said to Abdullah: “See, most of them want Khalil to represent them. No need to count who stood on the right and who stood on the left.”
Abdullah could not say anything. He was sad and disappointed. When he went back home, he said to his brother: “I don’t believe what happened. Khalil bribed all of them.” Then he shouted with vengeance: “I can’t say anything now because I accepted the Chief’s decision in the beginning, but I never imagined that Khalil would be able to bribe and tempt most of the villagers to elect him. I have to suppress my resentment and accept my defeat now.”
On the 5th of May, Khalil went to the town to the Regional Directorate to be enrolled in the elections. All his relatives and friends followed him with their envious eyes while he was leaving the village and they all expected him to win the post.
Khalil came back to the village on the following day with the biggest expression of sadness and disappointment on his face. The Chief asked him: “What happened? Didn’t you win the post?” Khalil replied: “They asked me to produce a certificate. It seems that they do not believe you in the town if you say you can read and write. They don’t even bother themselves to test you or ask you to read a paper as Abdullah asked me.”
The villagers started to speak about what happened with disappointment. Most of them wanted Khalil to win the elections to get more loans from him and to be able to work more in his land as he promised them. They felt sorry because their dreams were ended so quickly.
When Abdullah heard about what happened, he said to his brother: “Thank God because Khalil didn’t become a parliament member. Do you see the result of teaching a greedy rich man two letters of the alphabet? He could cheat and bribe the whole village because he learnt only two letters. What would he have done if he had learnt and got a certificate? I am sure he would have bribed all the other parliament members to achieve many illegal goals after he wins the elections.”