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The Color of Democracy

With more positive expectation toward the future, Egyptians turned out on Saturday, to cast their vote for political change. Voters assembled in great numbers to have one of their fingers dipped into indelible fuchsia ink (electoral staining) to mark their participation.

Performed in general elections by many countries, electoral ink or electoral staining typically remains on the skin for 72–96 hours and may be present on the fingernail and cuticle for up to 2-4 weeks. With the exception of the Surinamese election in 2005 where orange was used, violet is the the most common color. Application can happen through ink (via bottles) or a marker. In some cases the color may eventually change to brown or black once on the finger over a period of time due to the ink’s photosensitive composition. Since the color cannot be readily removed after application, it discourages votes from being cast multiple times.

For some, this emblem is fervently displayed with pride. Its dual meaning underscores the price paid by the fallen—to preserve transparent free elections.

In other areas of the world, electoral staining has occasionally been employed as a means to intimidate. In the 2008 Malaysian general election, use of the ink was canceled one week prior to a voting. The controversy was due to the need for clarification on a constitutional amendment on the legality of polling clerks barring a voter from voting even if his or her finger was already marked with indelible ink. Findings presented by the Commission chair cited intelligence which detailed conspiracies to overthrow the electoral process through ink application to fingers of voters who had not yet voted. These details along with additional information of ink being smuggled in from nearby Thailand (again to mark fingers prior to vote casting) underscored the need to suspend the practice of electoral ink.

In Zimbabwe the opposite practice of not displaying inked fingers in a 2008 June general election proved dire. The BBC reported on the fear felt by the voters “.. where people know that if they fail to turn out to vote and do not have the ink stain to prove it, they are liable to the most ferocious retribution from the ruling Zanu-PF.”

With recent political upheavals in Egypt, Libya, and Yeman, the movement toward unrigged free elections will begin to proliferate. The dialogue of talking politics for the greater good will be encouraged. A quote from the NY Times this past Sunday sums up the elation felt by a voter in Egypt. “This is the first time I ever voted, and I am really happy about it,” said Mustapha Samir, a 21-year-old medical student. “For the first time in my life, people are not talking about soccer all the time but about constitutional amendments, which means the country will have a different future than its past.”

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