Fretlin election campaigning in Los Palos

The ministerial elections are pretty close and all the parties are touring the districts drumming up support. Fretlin is one of the bigger parties in Timor-Leste and they draw heavily on their association with the resistance movement, especially the armed wing of Fretlin ‘Falintil’.  

Hence the use of a 50cal machine gun perched on a Hilux as the mascot!

People are bussed, trucked and driven in to town from all of the outlying areas and the events are huge. The warm up party for the Los Palos campaign lasted all night. I drifted off to sleep at about 2am (the grounds are close to my house) and when i woke at 6.00am (i hate roosters) the music was still going... wild.

I’m not a fan of the rallying technique here and am happy to admit it. Huge crowds of young males screaming and chanting together immediately overrides any possible discussion on policy or merit of different parties and the feeling of the mob movement is ever present. In saying that it would be a blast to be hanging off the back of the truck tearing into a town painted head to toe and screaming songs with 3,000 friends...