The leftward and other blatherings of Span (now with Snaps!)

Monday, September 27, 2004

is any election better than no election at all?

(this is not a loaded question)

further to this

if you were installing democracy in a country, where there were peace "issues" in some areas which might stop elections from being held in those parts, how much of the population would need to be able to vote freely and fairly for you to be satisfied that it was democratic enough?

bit long winded, but you get the idea.

what percentage constitues free and fair? or - what percentage doesn't?

1 comment:

Span said...

not sure where you get 30 - 40% from Mr Tips, unless you are referring to local body elections - NZ has one of the highest percentages of turnouts in general elections - usually around 85% of those enrolled and about 75% of those eligible, i think. although i did read some research that it has been falling slightly and slowly in recent decades.

i guess i wasn't really thinking about turnout but about access to voting, being able to vote without pressure or fear. in NZ i think this is something we very much take for granted.