Guatemalan Elections: Comedian Becomes President!

I am sure all of you will agree to the statement that we love to (and need to) get tickled, not literally perhaps, but through a medium that can be of any type, be it spoken, visual, or maybe just through a fantasy (ahem…we all have our tastes, you know) every once in a while. Real-life is full of hilarious incidents happening every now & then, and with an observable eye, you can get all the fun in your own company. Unfortunately, all of us don’t have time for that (and some aren’t able to do so), while others don’t want to give time to it. So, we have another set of people who get up, take a stand, and induce fun in our life. We call them comedians.

You need not be a professional to be a comedian. In fact, we all have at least one or two people in our friend circle who are (or can be) really funny at whatever they say. Of course, we have professionals who put all their efforts into bringing out the hidden amusements and fun of life for others. Of late, many funny people like that have made a name for themselves in this country, Raju Srivastav (Gajodhar bhaiyya), Krishna (Comedy Circus fame), Kapil Sharma, to name a few and many more newcomers who are doing really well (on both online and offline platforms) like AIB (arguably started a different genre of comedy which was unseen for long), TVF (not really newcomers but got more popularity lately), Kanan Gill, etc.

Now, some of you may have noticed this article isn’t about comedians. But believe me, this article is more about a thought that the title may have given you. What if one of the names I mentioned or any other veteran becomes the President of our country? Although before that happens, they must be elected by us. Supposing one of them runs for it, will you vote for it, will you vote for these comedians to rule our country? If yes, why? If no, why?

Strangely, Guatemala, a country most of us may not have even heard of before (it’s in Central America bordered by Mexico, by the way), recently elected Jimmy Morales as its new President, who pushed it to international limelight for some time. He was a television comic actor previously and apparently had no appreciable political experience. He did not just win, and he nailed it. With over 64% of votes, he had a huge victory over his counterpart Sandra Torres. It is said that Guatemala is consumed with corruption and unethical politics to its bones. Thus with a slogan focusing on that very problem, “not corrupt, not a thief!” he fought, and he won! Ironically, before the elections, he had played a Guatemalan cowboy in supposedly one of the most famous political sketches which became the president! Now, that’s some serious way to live the dreams.

But hey, don’t judge too quickly! People didn’t just choose him by chance or change (on a different note, this is actually good considering the country’s condition). There were too many scandals and conspiracies going on in the government straight up to the top level, which had consumed its own public, and the previous President had to resign owing to one of the scandals. If that was not enough, the counterpart of Jimmy, that is Sandra, was a former first lady and hence a figure who was no different than the rest of the government for the people. Maybe that’s why it all had to happen.

Whatever the reason may be, the fact stands that Guatemala chose a different path, perhaps a new beginning, a new light for the people’s hopes. Whether that works out or not is a different issue.

So? What did you think of it? Is something like this possible in our country too?  And most importantly, is a change like this required for us too? Do let me know your thoughts on this issue in the comments below. 

Published by
Nehit Singh