Maravi

Low turnout

Low turnout
By Editor
Sunday February 24, 2008 [03:00]

A turnout of 17 per cent in last Thursday’s Kanyama by-election is certainly a very low percentage. There are many reasons that have been advanced to explain or justify this low turnout. The Electoral Commission of Zambia has attributed this low turnout to the timing of the election date. They believe a higher turnout could have been recorded if the by-election was held after the rain season. And they go on to add that it was actually raining on the by-election day itself, making it difficult or undesirable for people to leave their homes to go and vote.

They have also attributed the low turnout to the violence that had characterised the campaigns for this by-election. They believe most people thought that voting would be characterised by violence and as such opted to stay away from danger. They have also attributed this low turnout to most people not regarding by-elections as being important.

And Foundation for Democratic Process (FODEP) believes many eligible voters shunned the by-election due to lack of development in the constituency and would have voted if development was felt in the area. They have warned that if development continues not to be felt in the country, Zambians will in future stop voting because they related voting to development. They have also attributed this low turnout to lack of voter education by both the Electoral Commission of Zambia and civil society organisations.

None of these factors can simply be dismissed. However, what is important is to realise that citizens cannot be required to take part in the political process, and they are free to express their dissatisfaction by not participating.

But without the lifeblood of citizen participation, our democracy will begin to weaken.

Voting in the election of public officials and other representatives is the most visible and common form of participation in modern democracies, and also the most fundamental. The ability to conduct free and fair elections is at the core of what it means to call a society democratic.

In democratic elections, the struggle is often not to determine which candidate commands the greatest public support, but who can most effectively motivate his or her supporters to convert their opinions into votes. The lingering danger of voter apathy is not that public offices will go unfilled, but that office holders will be elected by smaller and smaller percentages of eligible voters.

It is clear to us that voter apathy is creeping up slowly. Some call it “political depression” and it begs the question: if people don’t participate, at what point does a democracy cease to be democratic? And here the word apathy means that they have no interest, no emotion, no feelings, no voice on the issues. There is disgust, discouragement and frustration, but not apathy.

The mistrust of politicians by citizens, and the decline in voting among the population in general, signal a low point in our people’s relationship with their politicians, and a real crisis of confidence, not just in politicians, but in the value of public life in our democracy.

There is a sense of feeling that one’s vote matters has declined. But perhaps most of all, there is a sense that politics is increasingly becoming dirty business in Zambia. Some people assume moral and ethical individuals won’t run for public office because they can’t stomach the dirty nature and corrupt character of our political campaigns.

It is important to care. Truly, there are problems. But what happens if no one “good” runs for public office? Who ends up running? And what happens if people don’t vote? Bad officials are elected by citizens who do not vote. It is a vicious cycle. Elected officials make the laws and are in the best position to bring about reforms in our politics and political campaigns. Good, hard working elected officials are needed to turn things around. Our advice is: vote, get involved, run for public office.

We need to convince more people, especially young people, who want to make a difference that they should enter public life. For our democratic and good governance efforts to remain vital, we need more people to offer themselves for public office.

There is no doubt, the value of our parliamentary by-elections seems to be diminishing in the eyes of the Zambian voters. And this phenomena, if not checked, may give rise to very low voter turnouts. People should be made to see the difference their votes are making. And the frequency of parliamentary by-elections is not helping the situation.

Yes, election time may be 'eating' time for the hungry constituents because this is the time mealie-meal and other foodstuffs are given to them freely. It is also the time when candidates are willing to talk to them and help them. After that nothing, or very little, seems to flow in their direction from the individual they have elected to be their representative. All they start to see is that individual they have elected begin to drive new cars, dress in new and relatively expensive clothes and appear to be doing well financially. Their position as voters doesn't seem to improve much, regardless of who they vote for. With this approach to elections, people will soon start to wonder if the only democratic procedure for choosing leaders are the electoral processes they are today being subjected to that are so often prostituted to falsify the will and the interest of the people and so many times to elect the most inept and the most shrewd, rather than the most competent and most honest.

When one looks at our politicians, when one looks at our political representatives, it is clear that very few of them are there simply to serve the people heart and soul. Most of them appear to be in politics, in public office because of personal ambition or pleasure; they are not there to fulfill a duty, to serve a cause.
This type of politicians does not certainly inspire confidence in our people; does not motivate them to start playing an active role in the politics of their country. It actually demoralises, demotivates citizens from meaningful political participation.

To increase the turnout in our elections, we will need to pay a lot of attention to all these factors otherwise the situation will continue to deteriorate. And this will mean that our representatives will continue to be elected by fewer and fewer citizens. There may seem to be nothing wrong with low turnout at elections. But we shouldn’t forget that elections are the central institutions of democratic representative governments. We say this because in a democracy the authority of public offices derives solely from the consent of the citizens eligible to vote. The principle mechanism for translating that consent is the holding of elections where the turnout is high and elections that are free and fair. Clearly, in the absence of this, our democracy and good governance is on the decay.

Labels: BY-ELECTIONS

posted by MrK @ 6:24 AM