Mandatory Voting in Brazil: The Case for Abolition - Research Paper Example

Mandatory Voting in Brazil: The Case for Abolition Introduction Brazilians elect their President and members of the legislature at general elections. They elect their President for a four-year term. The presidential elections are held in two rounds if none of the candidates received more than 50% of the total number of ballots cast in the first round. The candidate who scores the absolute majority of votes in the second round of polling is declared elected President. The Brazilian legislature is called the National Congress and comprises two chambers: the Chamber of Deputies and the Federal Senate. The former has 513 members elected to a term of four years while latter has 81 members elected to serve for a term of eight years. Every literate Brazilian who is aged between 18 and 70 is required by law to vote in general elections. On the other hand, it is optional for citizens of 16-17 years, those aged over 70 and illiterate Brazilians of any age (Power 98). However, providing a valid reason for not taking part in an election is accepted. Such reasons may include sickness and absence from the country on the day of voting. Otherwise, the person who declines to vote at an election without permission is prevented from securing a passport, among other restrictions until they have settled their case in an electoral court. This paper contends that Brazil’s system of mandatory voting at general elections is obsolete and should be abolished in favor of voluntary voting. It seeks to defend this position in view of the just concluded general elections. The paper first gives a historical background of mandatory voting globally and in Brazil. The next section of the thesis provides an overview of the debate between compulsory versus voluntary voting around the world. The section that follows, “The Need to Abolish Mandatory Voting in Brazil: The Justification” demonstrates why the country should abandon mandatory voting and switch to a voluntary voting system as is the case in most countries around the world. This part constitutes the bulk of the paper. Finally, the paper concludes that an affirmation of the need to make the big shift to voluntary voting. Historical Background of Compulsory Voting in Brazil The world over, mandatory voting is not a new invention. Ancient Athenians practiced it (Power 97). They required every citizen to engage in public affairs. However, attending the assembly was left to the discretion of an individual. However, occasionally, social action was taken against those who persisted in not taking part. In addition, the agora needed a quorum of about 6,000 people. If the attendance were lower, officials would send some of the people already in the agora to go into peoples homes and compel them to attend the deliberations in the agora. Since 1934, Brazil has used compulsory voting to compel its citizens to participate in general elections (Power 98). To achieve this, successive governments have used several forms of compulsory voting legislation. Starting 1988, voting was made mandatory for all citizens aged between 18 and 70 years, except those who are illiterate. Meanwhile, the decision to vote or not to vote is left to the discretion of citizens aged between 16 and 17 years and those who are aged 71 years and beyond. Today, Latin America accounts for nearly half of all the countries with mandatory voting. Brazil has the largest population of citizens who are subjected to compulsory voting. Compulsory versus Voluntary Voting: An Overview of the Debate Brazil enforces forceful voting. This contrasts voting in most countries where it is voluntary: the voter decides whether or not to vote and who to elect for if they decide to. In this study, the position is that compulsory voting is out of date with the tenets of democracy and should be abolished, and its place taken by voluntary voting. Before embarking on the defense of the position, a quick overview of the viewpoints for and against compulsory voting will suffice. Many viewpoints have been put forward for and against compulsory voting. Some of these are analyzed in this section. Advocates of compulsory voting argue that mandatory voting confers a greater level of political legitimacy to the candidates who are elected because it increases voter turnout. The winning candidate represents the will of the greater majority of the population than if voting was left to the discretion of politically active members of public (Lijphart 9). The advocates argue that this point is important, especially in representative democracies in which people elect politicians to represent them in public institutions such as parliament. In most of these democracies, the candidate who receives a simple majority of the entire votes electors cast in an election is granted victory. Mandatory voting prevents marginalized groups in society from being locked out of the nations political processes (Lijphart 8). Secret balloting helps to prevent other people from tampering with the votes cast by voters. Similarly, compulsory voting minimizes the influence that external forces may have on determining whether or not an individual votes in an election. These forces include adverse weather and restrictive employers. If everyone is expected to vote, it will be much easier to identify barriers to voting and eliminate them. It is for this reason that in countries where voting is mandatory, elections are usually held on a Saturday or a Sunday as is the case in Brazil. The rationale is to enable people who work from Monday to Friday fulfil their civic duty. Supporters of voluntary voting, on the other hand, like to perceive voting as a civic right, not a duty (Lijphart 10). Citizens may choose to exercise their civic rights such as the right to associate with others, but must not be forced to. In addition, forceful voting could infringe other rights of a person. For example, denominations of Christians believe that they must not take part in political processes. By compelling them to vote, authorities effectively interfere with their freedom to practice their religion. Promoters of voluntary voting argue that low voter turnout in a voluntary election is not an indication of voter apathy (Lijphart 10). Some people may fail to turn up to vote in order to express their will: they are satisfied with the political status quo. This form of expressing a person’s will is not inferior to expressing one’s will trough the ballot. The problem with this argument is that it is not an effective way of maintaining the status quo. The surest way to maintain the political establish is to go to the ballot and cast one’s vote for it. Otherwise, those opposed to the status quo are likely to turn out in large numbers and defeat the sitting regime. The Need to Abolish Mandatory Voting in Brazil: The Justification Brazil’s system of mandatory voting is based on person’s ability to read and write, where every literate Brazilian aged between eighteen and seventy years. As of 2012, Brazil had a combined (male and female) literacy rate of 91.3% for people aged 15 years and above. This rate compares favorably with the world average of 84.1% (Brazilian Ministry of Finance 50-57). It is evident that there is a connection between a person’s ability to read and write and how they vote. Where the illiteracy rate is high, the incidence of spoilt votes is likely to be high. Many spoilt votes could affect the outcome of the presidential election, especially if it is closely contested. Given the high literacy rate of the country, one does not expect the proportion of spoilt votes in the just concluded general elections to be high. The final report of the just concluded general elections would give useful insights. Brazil’s constitution provides for a two-round presidential election if no presidential candidate receives over 50% of all the votes in the first round. There are numerous political parties in Brazil. As a result, in recent elections it has become virtually impossible to obtain a clear winner in the first run of elections to the office of the President. This is despite the fact that around elections political parties forge coalitions because they recognize that on their own, they cannot win. Once again, the runoff situation played out in the just concluded general elections. No clear winner emerged in the first round of the presidential race. As a result, the top three candidates in the first round contested in the second round. These were Dilma Rousseff, Aecio Neves and Marina Silva in the first, second and third positions respectively. In the re-run, Rousseff emerged tops after garnering 51.6% of the votes against Neves’ 48.4%. Moreover, re-runs were held in several states after the first rounds of gubernatorial race failed to produce a winner. Critics of democracy argue that the political system, especially representative democracy, is very costly to the taxpayer. Representative democracy is the type that Brazil pursues. In this type of democracy, the citizens of a country, also called the electorate, elect people from among themselves at general elections to represent them in public institutions such as the National Congress. Critics of representative democracy contend that general elections, especially for a country the size of Brazil, are costly to undertake and are a burden to the taxpayer. If this is true, then the scenario of runoffs only serves to make the burden of the Brazilian taxpayer heavier. Yet, one of the arguments advanced by the supporters of compulsory voting is that it increases voter turnout. If this claim were true, the citizens of Brazil would not have to return to the ballot to elect their President in a runoff. Instead, Brazilians should be able to turn out in their numbers and elect a President in the first round of voting. However, this statement must be understood in light of the fact the general elections under consideration were concluded a few days ago. As a result, vital information such as voter turnout is not available yet from the country’s electoral body. The world over, compulsory voting is on the decline. By August last year, a total of twenty-two countries were reported as having mandatory voting (Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) 5). Of these only ten and one Swiss canton enforce the system. The remaining twelve have since stopped enforcing compulsory voting laws, even though they still exist in their law books. An example is Belgium where, on paper voting is compulsory for every citizen that has attained the age of eighteen years. They are required to avail themselves at a polling station on elections day. Failure to do so leads to certain sanctions being imposed in the concerned voter. In practice, however, only polls clerks that fail to report to duty on elections day have been prosecuted since 2003. Whereas the sources consulted do not explain why these countries no longer enforce their mandatory voting laws, it is believed that they have since realized that the laws are no longer effective in managing the electorate. On the other hand, of the thirty member countries of the Organization for economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), only ten had variations of compulsory voting (Tim 5). There exist several ways through which successive governments of Brazil can encourage Brazilians to vote at national and state elections, rather than using laws to compel them into voting. There are many examples to learn from. For instance, in the wake of political turbulence in recent years, Egypt is now exploring ways of encouraging Egyptians to not only vote, but also contest seats in local and national elections (Catham House 11). The civil society there is playing an active role in this process. They have found out that one of the best ways to motivate Egyptians to participate in elections is by empowering them to be able to assess candidates and political parties and their programs independently. This process of assessment is supported by the high penetration of radio and television in the country. The growing uptake of information and communication technologies, especially the Internet also aids the flow of and access to information. Then, they should arrive at the decision of which way to vote. Brazil could borrow a leaf from Egypt. Conclusion Since 1934, Brazil has followed a system of mandatory voting in which every literate Brazilian aged between eighteen and seventy years is required to vote at general elections. Failure to do so leads to the government imposing a multitude of sanctions on the concerned voter. These include the refusal to be issued with a passport. Many defenses have been put forward in favor of and against this electoral system. However, the arguments across the divide are too general to be applied to Brazil alone. In fact, they can be applied anywhere in the world. This thesis has justified the need for the abolition of compulsory voting in Brazil in favor of voluntary voting. They have accomplished the task by advancing arguments that are global in perspective yet customized to the case of Brazil. These include the facts that the global trend is toward abandoning compulsory voting and that there are other proven ways, other than compulsory voting, of getting the citizens of a country to participate in the countrys political processes. Therefore, based on the arguments contained herein, Brazil should abolish its system of forceful voting and embrace voluntary voting. Works cited Brazilian Ministry of Finance. "Population Composition, Brazil, 2012." Survey Report. 2012. Document. Catham House. Egypt in Transition: Securing a Democratic Process. Workshop Report. Cairo: Catham House, 2011. Document. Central Intelligence Agency (CIA). World Factbook: Suffrage. Factbook. Washington, DC: Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), 2013. Document. Lijphart, Arend. "Unequal Participation: Democracys Unresolved Dilemma." The American Political Science Review (1997): 8-11. Article. Power, Timothy. "Compulsory for Whom? Mandartory Voting and Electoral Participation in Brazil, 1986-2006." Journal of Politics in Latin America (2007): 97-122. Article. Tim, Evans. Compulsory Voting in Australia. Working Paper. Sydney: Australian Electoral Commission, 2006. Document. Read More