2006 15
Forcing People to Vote
Published by MartinVarsavsky.net in General with No Comments
Is Argentina much more subject to populist presidents than Chile because in Argentina it is a illegal not to vote while in Chile voting is a choice? Are voters who are forced to vote as bad making community oriented choices as the kids who were “not aborted” that Freakonomics talks about?
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Gustavo on January 17, 2006 ·
Thanks god in Argentina is mandatory to vote. Can you imagine the alternative scenario ? Official bands and gangs blocking streets (such as it has been happening during the last 4 years)or buildings where people vote or scaring voters to “guarantee” that the opposition cannot win…(Remember the latest election in the Province of Buenos Aires where the opposition was wiped off using obvious non democratic mechanismss)….
Klaus verno on January 18, 2006 ·
In Chile voting as been always a legal obligation. Fines for not voting are very high. Young people -more than a million- do not register themselves as voters because such registration is not mandatory. Sorry!
Hernán Streeter on January 19, 2006 ·
Your remark about voting rights in Chile is wrong. It is a legal duty and penalizations for not voting are high.
In Chile, you must register yourself in the Registro Electoral to become a voter. This is optional and many young people is reluctant to this registration because they don´t want to buy an obligation. (One of my boys said so…)
Now, voting rights for everyone without registration is a must, specially for chileans living abroad due to certain dictatorial circumstances.
martin varsavsky on January 19, 2006 ·
I guess I was wrong. In that case there´s really no excuse for Argentines to consistently vote so poorly…
Hernán Streeter on January 20, 2006 ·
But is a good reason to explain why Chile has the first woman democratically elected as President in South America. Chile´s electoral history shows that women’s majority have been always against leftist parties. Now, they have changed their mind….
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Marilín on January 15, 2006 ·
probably