Over the last few years, in most countries, statistics have shown that, in general the trend is pointing towards lower participation in public elections. In some cases, a particular election can break the trend, specially when important matters are at stake, people live in fear or when the country is highly divided on a particular subject. However, analysts usually assumed that citizens had progressively lost interest in politics. As a result, in some countries it has become usual to see participation scores well below the 50% mark. This obviously raises a lot of questions about the legitimacy of those elected under these circumstances.
Raising participation numbers in local, state and national elections should be the primary goal of every true democrat. Too often do we see a candidate win because it’s supporters are more committed than those who back the opposition. Some may consider that fair but I disagree. We should only be satisfied with election results when they are accompanied by high participation rates across the board. That is why I was so glad to see an amazing 85% participation rate in France’s Sunday presidential election. This result really deserves a standing ovation and we should all work in our countries to make sure that we obtain similar results in future elections.
Even though France cannot claim to be the oldest modern time republic (that honor goes to the Dutch), it is well known that many of the ideals that inspired both the US Constitution and the French Revolution, came from French thinkers. That leads many to consider France to be the cradle of democracy. Seeing that 218 years after the French Revolution, democracy is still alive and well in that country is something to cheer about.