Euro Foot, Euro Elections

Although the Euro Tournament kicked off on June 13 with the exciting game between historical rivals France and England, European elections did not kick off so well.

French citizens, and no doubt politicians, were riveted more to their television screens than to the voting polls; people questioned which of the two teams would win, with national stars Zidane and Beckham, instead of which party was going to rule the European Parliament. Indeed, the European elections came at a wrong time as it coincided with the Euro tournamentas a result, many people did not vote.  

When interviewed on election-day, many people were not even aware that it was an important daya historical day, as politicians put it. Many were blas, and those who voted did so either out of civic duty, or to voice their disapproval of the current French government, which many find, ineffective.

The results were devastating with more than half the French population snubbing the ballot boxes. Results were similar in many other countries such as England and Germany, with a few exceptions such as Italy and Cyprus. Surprisingly, even in the newly accepted countries such as Poland, the participation level was around twenty-five percent.

Most of the interviewed French citizens as well as other Europeans generally think that their votes would not change their daily lives.

Some also account the high abstinence level to the governments incapacity to well inform the public of the European elections as well as the European Constitution. Others suspect that these elections were orchestrated for heads of government to get a feel of their popularity for upcoming national elections. 

There may be many other reasons as to the unpopularity of these elections. But what is interesting to note is the change in the nature of voting; a change in the way citizens perceive voting.

France boasts of being one of the most democratic countries in the world, but the recent European elections are not the first time when French men and women have ignored voting. In the first round of the last presidential elections around 47% of the people voted. It is because of this indifference that caused the leader of the Extreme Right Party Jean-Marie Le Pen, to be the opposing candidate to president Jacques Chirac.  

Voting is one of the most basic duties of a citizen in a democratic society. It is an opportunity for him to express his opinion regarding an issue that concerns him and his country. However, in France and maybe in Europe in general, it seems that citizens have lost their voices. Or rather, the capacity to raise their voices.

Politicians seem to have lost touch with their citizens. It is not up to citizens to decide what laws should be passed and what actions should be taken.

The ruling lite sit high up in a cloud, determining what problems exist and how they should be remedied. When they finally come up with a brilliant idea, brilliant in their own minds, of course, they present it to the people. Most of the times, people seem to not understand, or simply, not care.

Thus people have also lost connection with the government. Those who are courageous enough or not lazy, vote to express disapproval of their present government. They think that voting wont change many things, but at least they can tell government heads that they are unpopular and should be kicked out. Those who prefer to stay in bed instead of casting their vote think that abstaining is in itself a type of votethe sanction-vote as they call it here.

Thus it seems that the act of voting has become reduced to merely saying no to a government. But the act of not voting is also to say no. This leads to the question, where is voting heading to? Where is democracy going?

These are two important questions, because if people increasingly snub the voting system the chasm between the government and the people will widen more and more. People will start feeling disconnected with the goings-on of their country, and will start closing themselves in their own homes and will not feel like participating in the workings of society.

We need to redress the voting system. If it disappears citizens will be isolated from one another and there will be less and less cohesion among people.  

de Freytas is an intern at The Washington Post in Paris, France.

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