Sun, May 19, 2002 page8

• Compulsory voting needs to be looked at carefully

  • By Wang Yeh-lih 王業立
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  The KMT legislative caucus recently proposed draft amendments to the Public Officials Election and Recall Law (選罷法). One new idea presented in the draft amendments is the introduction of compulsory voting, with fines levied against those who fail to vote without a proper exemption.

  The proposal -- aimed at raising voter turnout and minimizing the impact of "black gold" -- has prompted extensive discussion. Some have criticized the move as being a regressive one for our democracy. In fact, compulsory voting is a highly controversial issue even overseas. I would like to clarify some ideas about this system.

  Voting is compulsory in more than 30 countries, including Australia, Belgium, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Turkey, Singapore, Argentina, Brazil and Peru. The thought behind compulsory voting is that voting is not simply a civil right, but rather a responsibility. Low voter turnouts shake the most fundamental cornerstones of democratic politics. That's why even some advanced countries have instituted compulsory voting.

  Opponents of compulsory voting believe that if voting is a means of making a choice and expressing an opinion, then not voting can also be interpreted as such. When casting ballots, constituents are usually forced to choose the least rotten apple from several rotten ones. So some simply decline to make the choice. But compulsory voting forces people to eat rotten apples.

  In many countries where voting is mandatory, various regulations have been established to punish those who refuse to vote, but those regulations are rarely implemented. Meanwhile, in some nations in which voting is compulsory, the elderly are not obliged to go to the polls out of consideration of their difficulties in getting about. Brazil, for instance, stipulates that voters under 17 (the voting age in Brazil is 16) and over 70, as well as illiterate voters, should not be forced to cast their ballots.

  In other countries with compulsory voting, such as Australia, Belgium and Italy, the voter turnout is usually more than 85 percent. But turnouts in countries like Greece and Peru are still lower than 80 percent. Voter turnout in some nations that do not require their citizens to vote, however -- including Denmark, Iceland and the Netherlands -- exceed 85 percent, and in Malta, it even reaches 95 percent.

  It is generally believed that elections in Taiwan generate high voter turnout. This is actually untrue. In legislative elections, for example, voter turnout has never exceeded 70 percent.

  Taiwan's turnout exceeds those of the US and Switzerland, and is neck-and-neck with France and Ireland. Even the current record of 82 percent, set in our last presidential election, is a mediocre rate when compared with those of Western democracies.

  Factors influencing a country's voter turnout are very complex. Turnouts tend to be higher in countries operating proportional representation electoral systems since constituents do not feel that their ballots are wasted, as supporters of minority parties in single-member district systems often do. In addition, whether absentee voting is in operation also affects voter turnout.

  It is certainly appropriate to seek to raise voter turnout and reduce the impact of black gold on elections. But there is still ample room for discussion on whether we can attain those goals through compulsory voting.

  Wang Yeh-lih is a professor of political science at Tunghai University.

  Translated by Jackie Lin
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