Time to bite the chilli and elect a President

Chomping on chillies is not exactly a challenge for many people, even if they happen to be excruciatingly fiery Bhut Jolokias or Carolina Reapers — the current front runner in the heat stakes. Indeed, more people in the world today have an affinity for the increasingly scorching bite of chilli peppers than ever before. That is why the protest against one of the three candidates in the Georgian presidential elections by eating red chillies on social media platforms is puzzling. Is this act really more painful than the prospect of Salome Zurabishvili, a French-born former diplomat, becoming the last directly elected president of her ethnic homeland, the former Soviet republic of Georgia? Can eating chillies make this supposedly unpopular candidate feel the heat?

Given that traditional Georgian cuisine is already spicy though nibbling fresh chillies is not common, this initiative will remain just a spicy aftertaste in the election pot. If deterrence was the primary aim, burning chillies near polling booths may have been more effective a message than eating them. And if Zurabishvili’s supposed inability to spout Georgian is said to be the crux of opposition to her candidature, India’s experience should teach a thing or two to those in her country who feel that aspirants for top office must speak the local language fluently.