Do you vote?

[Cute Wolf]

Sometimes, though... you will found that you must choose the lesser evil solution, because if you don't vote, you'll get worse treatment....

[Kadagar_AV]

Sometimes, though... you will found that you must choose the lesser evil solution, because if you don't vote, you'll get worse treatment....

I don't agree... Say only 30% voted, and they only voted if they believed in the party. That would give a HUGE incitament for other partys to be formed. Or for the existing partys to change their policies. By voting for "the lesser evil", you make politics become stagnant, and ultimately not representant for the people at large.

I mean, it is bad enough as it is in Sweden with 8 or so partys you can vote for... I shiver when I think of countries with only 2 partys...

I am rather sure, that in a two-party country, most people vote more AGAINST, than FOR a party. IE, I vote X because I am against Y.

[Furunculus]

Britain's system works very well, it has two main parties (Lab/Con).
It has a opportunistic and aggressive reserve party should one of the two main parties become irrelevant (Lib)
It has minor parties that force change in the big-three by encouraging adoption of minor issues (UKIP/Greens/BNP)
It has local parties for people who wear tartan underpants and like to pleasure themselves while watching braveheart (SNP or Plaid Cymru)

[CountArach]

Compulsory voting makes this a remarkably simple question to answer.

However, if it weren't compulsory (I believe it should be, but hypothetically speaking), I would indeed vote. I recall reading somewhere a quote along the lines of "only in the moment when a man casts his ballot is he truly free." That rings somewhat true to me.

[Sigurd]

I vote and have 10 times.

5 Parliment elections and 5 local governmental elections.
I do not support the couch party, which probably is the largest international party.
Even though on these hills not much change if the righ or left runs the country - The governement election system depends on someone getting off their backside and putting that ballot in the box.

And I agree with the others who say you can't complain about how things are if you don't vote.
If someone complains about things related directly to how we are governed, I ask: "Did you vote?" If they say no, I proceed: "Then shut your gegi[sic]."*

*Glaswegian for mouth.

[Meneldil]

I voted everytime I was supposed to, except last year when I was in Canada (for I don't know what election). So far, my only "real" vote was in favor of the European Constitution. With the exception of this one, I haven't voted for any one or any party so far.

I still do the deed to show anyone who cares (ie. none) that I find the political system laughable and that I'd vote for someone if there was someone I'd agree with.

[Louis VI the Fat]

I am your perfect law-abiding bourgeois citizen, with petty little conservative ways, who votes every election, on established, moderate parties.


* purrs with contentment *



Pakistani politics are rubbish. Bolivian too. Western politics, on the other hand, are on the whole run by somewhat decent people making somewhat decent decisions.*



*Edit: except Belgian politicians, of course. Barking mad, the lot of them.

[rory_20_uk]

Britain's system works very well, it has two main parties (Lab/Con).
It has a opportunistic and aggressive reserve party should one of the two main parties become irrelevant (Lib)
It has minor parties that force change in the big-three by encouraging adoption of minor issues (UKIP/Greens/BNP)
It has local parties for people who wear tartan underpants and like to pleasure themselves while watching braveheart (SNP or Plaid Cymru)

We might be seeing the end of Labour as one of the Big 2:

New parliament requires Lib Dems for support. They sign up to Proportional Representation. This massively favours the Lib Dems and miscellaneous, slightly favours Conservatives, and considerably hurts Labour. If the Perception takes hold that Lib Dems is not a "wasted vote" their share could be maintained. Labour, even more than the Conservatives, is an umbrella of differing views, held together by mutual need. If all could gain as much - if not more - from standing separately there could be a true fragmentation.

If voting did become PR I would probably alter my vote to a minor party where at the moment I feel that it is "wasted".

[Andres]

It's compulsory in Belgium, so I vote at each election. I would probably have done the same in all previous elections.

At this moment, I'm very disgusted with Belgian politics, so if there will be elections in June, I'll probably vote invalid by writing something on the paper along the lines of "you are all idiots and a disgrace to my country, each and every single one of you."

[Husar]

It's compulsory in Belgium, so I vote at each election. I would probably have done the same in all previous elections.

At this moment, I'm very disgusted with Belgian politics, so if there will be elections in June, I'll probably vote invalid by writing something on the paper along the lines of "you are all idiots and a disgrace to my country, each and every single one of you."

That's pretty harsh, isn't it?
I mean considering that most likely the only person reading this will be someone helping to count the votes...

I have voted once or twice but since then all the votes have been on days I was out of town and I simply keep forgetting to get the papers for a mail vote or how it's called...

[Sasaki Kojiro]

Of course you can complain if you don't vote. The only time you can't complain is if your vote would have been the deciding vote.

You might as well say that you can't complain if you didn't vote, donate, and volunteer for a campaign.

[Tellos Athenaios]

It's compulsory in Belgium, so I vote at each election. I would probably have done the same in all previous elections.

At this moment, I'm very disgusted with Belgian politics, so if there will be elections in June, I'll probably vote invalid by writing something on the paper along the lines of "you are all idiots and a disgrace to my country, each and every single one of you."

Well, Belgium is quite unique here. There is a compulsory voting system but no election for Belgium's parliament is in fact in accordance with their own constitution. Or so Belgium's constitutional court ruled, anyway. So no matter whether (dutiful but disgusted citizen Andres) or not (conscientious objector [?] Andres) you vote; you do have a solid basis to complain about the outcome.