Prez Tamayo Yair Alonso

2015-09-29
Essay

We need to take that test

David Bowie wrote in 1971: Every time I thought I'd got it made / It seemed the
taste was not so sweet / So I turned myself to face me / But I've never caught a
glimpse / Of how the others must see the faker / I'm much too fast to take that test.
Mexico has been under a debate about the benefits of voting; of course, there is a
side that support it and another that does not. But this last one, every time they
thought they had got it made, the taste was not so sweet. So we have to change,
and take a different test. Voting is just a brief part of being citizen. Besides, our
legislation neutralize the effect of abstention. This must be changed, but at the
same time people have other options to participate in the political field.
There are those who consider that voting is an action that justify the corrupt
political system. Therefore, they encourage people about the meaning of not
voting. It is often argued that when a considerable amount of citizens annul their
vote, politicians will receive a symbolic pressure by knowing that people do not
support them anymore. That is, the winner will take the post but without legitimacy.
One cannot deny that is an authentic and well intentioned reaction to our partys
crisis; nevertheless, any activity of this kind must rise up within a feasible possibility
of change things. Our legislation nullify abstention, but it gives us other options.
The main problem about not voting is that it helps the biggest party. The General
Law on Electoral Institutions and Procedures distinguish between total and national
votes. The first refers to all the votes gathered after the election, whether or not
they were annul. On the other hand, national votes allude the valid votes; that is
the National Electoral Institute (INE in Spanish) will ratify those who support any
party, and will erase the others. At this point, how this benefits the winner? The INE
will round off the quantities in order to have a 100 per cent. An example: if the
participation was a 50%, all parties would double their votes, which means the
strongest would be doubly winner. These statistics are not too far from reality:
according to INE, in the 2015 intermediate elections were a 47.03% of
participation; in fact, there was an increase because in 2009 election only 44. 61%
voted.

Gabinete de Comunicacin Estratgica, a renowned pollster, made a study and

showed the reasons why Mexicans do not vote: 26.5% because they feel
unsatisfied, 20.4% distrust the electoral process, 11.6% do not care, 9.4% said it is
worthless, 6.5% because insecurity and less than 5% because the bad government
(Jurez, 2015). All these reasons head for a tragic result: make the bigger, bigger.
No matter reason, if the party receive at least 3% of the voters (the minimum to
maintain the register), the will have budget, media time and, the saddest,
plurinominal deputies.
At this point we should be asking: what can we do? We must fall in depression and
give up? Of course not. We need to start to be citizens. But what does that mean?
Normally we think that the only way to participate in politics is by voting; we cannot
be more wrong. We have plenty of options to involve ourselves in decisions. Being
part of our neighborhood council or even asking information it is a way of increase
our democracy. We can even have influence in budget in Mexico City: Participative
Budget is a deliberative democracy method that encourage citizens to decide
which project is more viable and functional for the district, municipality or the whole
city.
Armando Bartra, a researcher from the Universidad Autnoma Metropolitana, says
that those who do not propose to change bad government and choose a good one,
they condemn themselves to negotiate with a bad one forever (Bartra, 2015). And
the best way to improve our government is being part of it, at least by making
questions or taking part of decisions. We all could be part of the change, we just
have to be a different man [or citizen, I would add], as Bowie said.
Sources
Bartra, A. (2015, 8 February). Votar o no votar: he ah el problema? Mxico. Read on
line at [http://www.jornada.unam.mx/2015/02/08/opinion/008a1pol]
Jurez, J. (2015, n. d.). Votar o no votar, les preocupa a los partidos? Mxico. Read on
line at [http://www.forbes.com.mx/votar-o-no-votar-les-preocupa-a-los-partidos/]

Staff. (2015, 9 June). La participacin en esta eleccin intermedia, la ms alta desde

1997. Mxico. Rea don line at [http://mexico.cnn.com/adnpolitico/2015/06/09/la-votacionen-estas-elecciones-intermedias-supera-la-de-2009-y-2003].