Home
GOVERNMENT
Posted by Chester Morton / Tuesday 18 September 2018 / No comments
Does voting have any importance or it is just a quadrennial ritual?
DOES VOTING HAVE ANY IMPORTANCE OR IT IS JUST A QUADRENNIAL RITUAL?
Introduction
In many democracies all over the world citizens go to the
polls every now and then to elect their political leaders for a period of time.
In the case of developing countries, however, there does not seem to be any
significant change in the lives of the people after they have voted governments
into power. In Nigeria, the people had very high hopes that the coming of
President Muhammadu Buhari was going to turn things around but getting to the end of his
first term, some citizens have revised their notes. In Ghana, the people voted
overwhelmingly for the current government of President Nana Addo Dankwa Akuffo-Addo but even before the middle of his
first term, there are cries that he is not fulfilling the many promises he made on the campaign trail prior to the 2016 elections. The situation is not too different in other
African, South and Latin American countries.
If this is the slap voters receive after every four or so years
from the people they vote into power, the question then is whether it is
important to vote at all. Many are seeing voting only as a quadrennial ritual on
the nation’s calendar and they just have to go through it during every electoral
cycle.
THE IMPORTANCE OF VOTING
Voting can be described as one of the methods by which people
arrive at a decision. There are several ways by which a vote is cast but for
the purpose of this article, voting is defined as the process of going to the
polling booth on an election day to select who among political leaders one
wants to become the leaders of one’s country for a given period of time. In
spite of the disappointment electorates experience after they have voted people
into power, voting is a very important ritual in the life of every democratic
country.
Confers legitimacy on government
No government can take over political power in a democratic
system if that government is not elected in a general election. One of the
reasons why voting is very important in a democratic dispensation is that it
legitimizes the government. Everyone recognizes that for a specific period of
time, say four years, that is the government that has the mandate of the people
to rule.
Participation in the political process
Another reason why voting is important is because it gives
the opportunity to the citizens of the country to participate in the political
process. The citizens become aware that they were part of the
process that brought the government of the day into power. It does not matter
whether they voted for the government of the day or not. They all made their
individual decisions and the majority decision culminated in the government
coming into power.
Effective representation
Again voting is important because it allows for the citizens
to be effectively represented in the government of the day. In ancient
democracies, everybody directly took part in governing the state. However, with
increase in population, all the people cannot represent themselves at the same
time; they have to be represented in parliament and other governmental levels by somebody. Voting allows the
people to have a say in who represents them in the political system whether in
parliament, in the executive or at any political level.
Commitment to the political process
In most democracies, governments remain in power for four
years though others adopt five and seven years too. The electorates, after
voting, know that it is only after the term of office is ended that the
government can be changed therefore they are not expected to truncate the
political term of office midstream. The importance of voting is therefore that
the citizens become committed to the political process and would do nothing to
disrupt it.
Smooth transfer of power
Voting is important because it helps countries to smoothly
transfer political power from one democratically elected government to another
one. One of the differences between a state and a government is that while the
state is permanent, the government is not. Governments come and go depending on
the preference of the people. Voting determines whether a government must continue
in power or hand over to another government. This ensures that there is a
smooth transfer of power from one government to another.
Prevents usurpation of power
Voting prevents political adventurers from usurping political power
from the hands of any ruling government. Once the convention has been
established that one can only come into political power when one is voted for,
coming to power through the barrel of the gun has become unpopular. Voting in a
sense prevents people from staging coup d’tats.
SAMPLE QUESTION(S)
1. a. What is voting?
b. Highlight six
ways in which voting is important.
ALSO READ:
Seven reasons why people abstain from voting
<<Back to Home Page
Go to other topics in Government>>
Go to the list of other subjects>>
Labels:
GOVERNMENT
Related Posts