Classic feature headline in The Grauniad today...
Turnout is Really About Class - Compulsory Voting would Give the Less Well Off a Stronger Political Voice
I loathe the idea of compulsory voting. We are compelled to do enough things by the State. If people can't be arsed to vote they have no right to complain about what is done in their name afterwards. At least in North Norfolk we had the second highest turnout in the country.
3 comments:
Ugh, how patronising. Sounds like something Polly Toynbee would come up with.
Australia, Belgium, Chile and Luxembourg are the only countries I’m aware of who have compulsory voting; none of whom are exactly examples of rampant state socialism. In Flanders if anything it does seem to have contributed to the rise of the neo-Fascist Vlaams Blok/Vlaams Belang being the main beneficiary of anti-politics protest voting.
Still, much more fun to have a sneer at the left than examine any concrete examples of it in practise eh?
Of more interest to me is the belated conversion of Chris Patten and Ferdinand Mount to the cause electoral reform (roundly condemned in the Telegraph today). If the Tories suffer another crushing defeat in 2009 such Tory calls for PR may be no longer seem so far fetched.
Poland, Greece and Turkey also have (less than rigidly enforced) compulsory voting. In Turkey, the fine for failing to vote is about 2 quid! Not much even when you take differences in living standards into account.
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