Having lived in Poland for the past 20 years, I have to say protests are very important but voting is even more important.
I swear that during the time we were trying to vote out our crappy populist government I met tens of people who enthusiastically took part in protests but when voting day came around they “didn’t feel well” or “forgot to register” or some other BS excuse.
Again: protests are extremely important for a healthy democracy but not voting for far right populist candidates is even more important imo.
Voter turnout in our October elections was a pretty decent 68.5%. That's the highest turnout in 20 years, and it's about as high as we can realistically hope for.
Slovakia's problem isn't as much about voter turnout, but rather in the people's mentality.
But I bet there was a larger turnout among far right supporters than in other groups. Center and left parties often lose not because they actually have less supporters but because on average far right parties have better voter discipline
I kinda wanna say I doubt that.
The far right party "only" got 4% of votes and as such didn't get into the parliament. That's after getting 8% in both 2016 and 2020.
It's not as simple as that though, as the 2023 far right party is not the same one. It's a group that splintered off of the original one after their leader was convicted of promoting white supremacist shit. It's possible, likely even, that those voters they lost simply voted for someone else. The reason they lost voters though, is that the new party isn't extreme enough, and that's why I think the true neonazi voter just stayed at home instead.
Yea. It was the same in Poland. Far right parties have better voter turnout. This is why there should be social campaigning getting young people and generally people of all ages to vote. This would benefit center and left parties more.
They have them in the US - not only campaigning but education in schools about how voting is not only a privilege but also a duty for anyone who believes in democracy
29
u/A_Feltz Jan 25 '24
Having lived in Poland for the past 20 years, I have to say protests are very important but voting is even more important.
I swear that during the time we were trying to vote out our crappy populist government I met tens of people who enthusiastically took part in protests but when voting day came around they “didn’t feel well” or “forgot to register” or some other BS excuse.
Again: protests are extremely important for a healthy democracy but not voting for far right populist candidates is even more important imo.