Hard to believe it, but I just cast my vote in Croatian parliamentary elections. To the best of my recollection, I have never voted before. Anywhere. Having missed so many opportunities to express my political will, and in so many countries, I could not justify my callous indifference any longer. Abstaining became unpalatable. By and by, it became unimaginable. I had to vote. In the end, I went so far as to make sure I was on the electoral roll. I checked, and then checked again. And today I voted for the man who was my mother’s favorite Istrian candidate.

Addendum (November 24, 2003)

Croatia is divided into ten electoral units by region. One of them is Istria. My mother’s favorite won by a landslide in this region, but the left coalition to which he belonged lost in all other electoral units but one—the city of Zagreb. Although the left and the right are not far apart in the parliament, the right is comfortably ahead. It will be asked by the president to form a right coalition. Only Istria will remain to the left, where it has always been. I feel quite proud of this exception, just as my mother would have been. The rest of Croatia is … the rest of Croatia.