Opinion|Reader’s opinion
The basic idea of democracy is that everyone has the opportunity to vote or not to vote.
Helsingin sanomat newspaper said (24.1.)that party secretaries were concerned about the alarmingly low turnout after the regional elections. Elsewhere, it is repeated how unnecessary it is to give feedback if one has not sought to make an impact by voting.
Why do we continue to repeat such silly political mantras from year to year? The basic idea of democracy is that everyone has the opportunity to vote or not to vote.
There has been a lively debate on the level of turnout for decades. We know that turnout is affected by individual background factors (such as education, family, and income level) as well as by factors that are completely independent of the individual (including the weather on polling day). In Western democracies, turnout has been on a declining trend for decades, and the causes have been sought.
When a state does not restrict or complicate a citizen’s right to vote, it can be assumed that the decline in turnout may be due to citizens becoming alienated from and distrusting the political system, or to things being so good that they do not consider it important to vote. Why repair a car if it is not broken?
The second hypothesis is inversely supported by the most recent U.S. presidential election, in which the chaos candidate who left behind the mess was voted out and the turnout was clearly up.
The accusations of politicians and the media against citizens and concerns about low turnout show the following. Politicians are afraid and want more votes to increase their legitimacy. The media, on the other hand, does not understand and is concerned about the multidimensional nature of society. This is already reflected in how winning parties view turnout as moderate and losers as horror.
Abstention is as strong a position as voting. Worrying about it, or comparing it to laziness, is an intellectual apathy that has taken over our minds in recent years.
Although the turnout in individual elections remains low, this does not mean that citizens are not active. In the United States, for example, 90% of eligible voters vote at least once in a four-year term, although the turnout in individual elections is significantly lower (40-50%). Why is this not being raised when assessing the current state of democracy?
Indeed, the low turnout in the regional elections sends a clear message to both current and future decision-makers. Our decision-making system needs to be reformed, and there is room on the ground for new parties and actors that can undermine the hegemony of traditional parties. Carpe diem.
Simo Kekäläinen
Oulu
Reader opinions are speeches written by HS readers, selected and delivered by HS’s editorial staff. You can leave a comment or read the principles of writing at www.hs.fi/kirjtamielipidekirjoitus/.
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