I am rewaly pleased that Ihad chance to see the picture of UHJ
Abhar ????

Perhaps the voter turn-out is high in your neck of the woods, but here in our community of almost 300 the voter turn-out was 27.3%. It has hovered around this number since I moved here in 1984.

What are the numbers in the areas of others?

Cheers,

Bruce Gibson
Saskatoon
Canada

i haven’t seen evidence of this trend of electing fewer pioneers to the nsa s. but really i hope it’s true.

thank you for bringing up these important points andrew, we need to bring post-election analysis in from the very fringes of the bahai community, as the current absence of any critical thinking on bahai elections is frankly creepy

Thanks for the fascinating post! As another elections junkie, I’m also very interested in the comparisons between Baha’i and secular democratic elections.

You mentioned:

“There were no nominations, no electioneering, no campaigns, no canvassing for votes. There were no political parties, no party platforms - in fact, none of the things that we have come to associate with elections….And no one `won’ the election.”

Although all this is true, after a secular democratic election you tend to get a lot of analysis about the election results. Of course you can’t do party analysis for Baha’i elections, but you can look at some interesting other features.

Three interesting results stand out from this election for me; firstly is the fact that every UHJ member - including the two new members - is now a former ITC member.
(http://bahairants.com/meet-the-new-universal-house-of-justice-488.html has an interesting take on this) in a sense this is a shift towards the Roman Catholic system, whereby Cardinals elect the Pope who in turn appoints the Cardinals.

The second is the continuation of the pro-incumbancy pattern of Baha’i elections, in sharp contrast to, for instance, the anti-incumbancy pattern seen in Indians elections.

The third is geographical; although a clear majority of Baha’is globally have, since the 1960s, been from the developing world (particularly India and Africa), the faith’s leadership has been predominantly led by two groups - Iranians and Westerners. I’ve heard stories that this is starting to change - western pioneers being displaced by indigenous Baha’is on NSAs for instance and wonder if/when it will start at the UHJ level. Would Correa fit into that box?

Were there any thoughts you had on these or other matters?

I find Bahais extremely reluctant to talk politics or say anything one way or another that could be construed as anything resembling a political opinion.

Bahais believe in world politics, eg eliminating hunger, poverty and pollution as well as motherhood and apple pie ….

What do Bahais believe in? What do Bahais want from government? Do they have views on immigration, crime and punishment, the death penalty, feminism, the European Union, the State of Israel, political correctness etc?

Below are two pieces on religion that you may find of interest.

http://thevoiceofreason-ann.blogspot.com/2008/03/atheists-theory-of-prophets-and.html

http://thevoiceofreason-ann.blogspot.com/2008/03/judaism-explained-before-easter.html

However I not totally agree with your observation that voter education is “is the responsibility of every Baha’i” only.
Thought the years I have encounter that some friends have a magic approach to voting. They consider that “God will take care of everything” and for them it is not important what each individual friend does. They not prepare themselves, they just pick names at random. When you have quite a few doing that the outcome is not the best it could be.

The words of the Guardian regarding the qualities of the individuals might be read but not studied in the communities as a whole in the months prior to the voting. And besides, some guidance would be of assistance to friends in National Assemblies that have very little contact with the mainstream of Bahá’i activities.

I also find myself really enjoying electoral processes and most my friends and family think I shouldn’t even bother, but it is the best way for me to see these manifold differences you have so clearly mentioned!

PS: If I may, you forgot Italian elections!