In Delhi school, Barack Obama has already won

Students voted overwhelmingly for Obama after watching a video of excerpts from the recent presidential debates between the two presidential candidates, reports Swaha Sahoo.

United States Senator Barack Obama won the 56th US presidential election by a landslide. A whopping 86 per cent of voters supported him, while Senator John McCain secured only eight per cent votes. Six per cent abstained from voting.

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Before you start wondering when this happened, we are talking about the mock presidential election held at the American Embassy School in Delhi on Friday.

Students voted overwhelmingly for Obama after watching a video of excerpts from the recent presidential debates between the two presidential candidates and going through their views on economics, education and international relations.

“We have held mock elections before. This is the best way to get students to understand the concepts and politics of the American presidency,” said principal Tim Boyer.

The idea of holding a mock election originated from students, Boyer added.

“Since the US election has significant implications for much of the world, both politically and economically, students proposed that they should hear about the issues and select the candidate of their choice in a mock election,” said Boyer.

He said Indian schools could replicate the model and hold mock parliamentary elections.

“I went to a history class soon after the mock election and students were already using what they had learnt about politics in the class. A mock election would get Indian students interested in the election process,” he added.