At precisely 1100 local time a large greased pole with a ham attached to the end of it is hoisted into the air, and there is a mad scramble as people struggle against each other to pull it down.

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Only one large group, the Democratic Modernist Pole, an alliance of several parties, has promised to put women at the head of half its lists.

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An annual winter chills the southern hemisphere, creating around the pole a frost composed in large part of frozen carbon dioxide, or dry ice.

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