Election is a democratic process that to explain simply means voting by majority, or majority wins. Of course, while the process is fairly clear cut and simple, in the real world, it is never like that. There are so many variables to consider when understanding the value of election.
Why should elections be given any significance? In many countries, there are no elections. Does this mean that they are better off than those countries that conduct elections, or vice versa?
Believe it or not, we all have participated in an election from the time we were able to understand situations and make choices. For instance, the decision to play ball or watch TV with your siblings will always come down to either the eldest making his stand and getting everyone to follow him, or everyone giving their opinion and a census is reached.
The main importance of the election process is being able to follow what the majority wants. The quirks of elections though especially if it is of grave national importance is the influences or abuse of influence to make a marked change in the results of an election.
How does this work? Let’s look at it from a smaller perspective – a company election of officers. One would probably vote the person he is friendly with regardless of performance and ability. This is very human and understandable, but it can get nasty if the person running for a certain position puts undue pressure on his friends and allies to make sure that he gets their votes.
On a larger scale, the same thing happens when electing an official like the presidential elections. In the United States, there are the Democratic and the Republican parties, and then there are the Independents who chose to run without being affiliated with any of the two parties. Most often, independent candidates are few and far between. This is mainly because it costs a lot of money to run a campaign.
Thus, whether you like the candidate chosen by the party of not, if you are a member of that party, you are compelled to vote for that candidate. Of course, no one is privy to knowing who you actually voted for since there is a fair amount of secrecy in voting.
This is the beauty of an election. You do not show your ballot to anyone, and there is no way for anyone to know who you voted for. This, elections can even out the playing field, and this is always why there is a great amount of anxiety and trepidation over the results of the voting in an election.
Nevertheless, elections are very important since it becomes the voice of the population. One vote does count, and the fallacy of some people to think that not voting will be okay, and that their vote will not make a dent on the results is a risky position to take. At the very least, your vote, whether you end up voting for the winning candidate or not, will tell the other party that there are “x” number of people who do not believe in him and his agenda, and that it will be an uphill climb for him to get your vote of confidence.
Quote of the Day:
“Now more than ever, citizens around the world participate in elections to hold their governments accountable, and more governments than ever recognize democratic elections as essential to establishing their legitimate authority. Yet one democratic election does not change the political culture of a society overnight. Long-term efforts are necessary to build an inclusive democratic society that respects human rights and laws, administers justice fairly, and encourages full citizen participation in government.” – www.jimmycarter.org
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Conclusion: Elections are extremely important in determining who the people want to have as a leader. It does not matter whether we are talking about a school, a city, a neighborhood, or a country. A leader must have majority support to be able to do a good and effective job, and elections is one way to determine who has the confidence and trust of the population.
