“Politics, far from offering me charms or compensations, has become, for me, perhaps because of my exaggerated sensitivity, an inglorious sacrifice. Day by day, I see my political illusions unfurling from an imaginary crystal vase. I feel a need, perhaps physiological, to return to my preferences, my chairs and my books”.
On this day, 149 years ago, Manuel Teixeira Gomes, seventh president of the Portuguese Republic, was born in Portimão, the city where I chose to live and give my citizenship contribution, actively involving myself in local and regional politics. I must alert to my idea of politics: a vision of how the parts of a state should be organized and administered.
The identification with the state of apparent disillusionment of Manuel Teixeira Gomes with which I started this text does not lie in the post-European feeling that I have (after all, what can we say when many Portuguese are unaware of the electoral programs of the parties that went to votes?) , but rather on the endemic and structural problem of abstention.
For those who think I'm going to offer a miracle solution or a complete assortment of creams that eradicate abstention, you can stop reading here. There is no easy solution and even “difficult” solutions can take at least two generations to take effect. That said, society (yes, all of us who live in a Nation and have a political administration) find it easier to mumble and whistle to one side.
The factors that cause abstention are numerous and of the most varied orders and I will not comment on them, but I believe that another type of analysis will be easier, as we can include the majority of abstentionist Portuguese in three major categories of voters: those who do not want to go (whatever the motivation, these people often consider that not showing up will be understood as a protest, although there is an implicit desire - not to vote), those who cannot go (work, illness, natural causes , the possibilities are endless) and those that just don't feel like it (beach, games, pool, series, the sky is the limit of excuses).
One of the curious facts, judging by the usual comments in the media and online networks, is the common belief that 1st and 2nd category abstainers have that there is a difference between them and 3rd category abstainers. There is not. You can think there's anything you want, but there isn't. Therefore, when it comes to abstention, the figure of 68% appears and not a tripartite division of wills.
Curious is also the fact that, as the world becomes progressively complex, fewer players become its inhabitants. Everything became bureaucratic, segmented and difficult. In markets, niches proliferate. In institutions, sections, departments, agencies and groups increase. In careers, structures and levels were reorganized.
Alongside this, the market segment that sells the virtual world has exploded, unfolding in thousands of intelligent ways to make us forget our reality and live what does not exist. And we still wonder why 45% of the Portuguese didn't even know what they were choosing this Sunday?
But the initial question remains: is abstention a cause of multiple factors? Or is it rather a consequence of an increasingly disconnected world?
At this moment, another note is necessary for us to ponder: there are those who advocate the mandatory voting system.
At this point, as in all those who are fracturing in our society, opinions diverge.
The truth is that compulsory voting already exists in some European countries, such as Belgium and Luxembourg. Nobody was offended by this.
The truth is that 12% of Belgian abstainers and 14% of Luxembourg abstainers had to justify their absence, which, and going back to the tripartite categorization I proposed earlier, will be the percentage that falls into the 2nd category.
The truth is that our parents and grandparents fought to win the right to vote and that right, like everything fragile and sensitive, must be protected and nurtured.
I confess that I am not an apologist for obligation as a mental mold of collective will. I believe that there may be cases in which, temporarily, there should be a protection of certain wills so that they take root socially and then perpetuate themselves.
In this specific case, I am in favor of the obligation to vote.
Firstly, because it would contribute to a gigantic reduction in abstention.
Secondly, because it would separate citizens who are discontented from others, as they would have, for example, the form of a blank vote to demonstrate their indignation.
Thirdly, because it would balance the scales and mitigate the perpetual non-responsibility of ordinary citizens for decisions that have direct implications for their present and future. The talk of “they're all the same and I didn't put them there” would have its days numbered.
In fourth and last place, because the vote would be seen with the mixed burden it should have: a right/duty. We have other rights/duties in Portugal that are mandatory, such as paying taxes, as they are considered very important for the maintenance of our society, and not “inglorious sacrifices”.
Isn't voting also one of those most important rights/duties?
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