Why it is important to vote and the importance of 2024
Voting is the action that underlies any functioning democracy. Voting has multiple roles: to show confidence towards certain political forces, to sanction some political forces when they have not fulfilled their promises, and to send a message to other political forces that if they are wrong they will be sanctioned. If significant parts of the population do not vote, this can lead to the weakening of democracy, the rise of extremism and elected institutions that do not represent the true intention of the population.
Absenteeism is a real problem in Romania and it makes people feel that we are trapped in a spiral where life remains as mediocre as before and a poor quality political class remains in power. It can be observed that the percentage of voting participation in parliamentary elections has decreased from an impressive 86% in 1990 to a worrying 34% in 2020. And if this process is not stopped the vicious circle I was talking about before will deepen and be perpetuated for a very long period of time.
Many people use the phrase “they are all the same” to justify not voting. But this is not valid in my opinion. If you don’t vote, you are entrusting your right to choose to others who vote, which may lead to an outcome contrary to your wishes. And somehow in Romania, this type of message is also propagated quite a lot by the press, mostly by journalists and the mass-media who are connected to corrupt parties. These messages are sent to influence the outcome of the vote. Since most of these parties have a clientele electorate, who vote for the respective party “no matter what”, that’s why they have every interest in people not going to vote. This type of electorate is always the same, but organized, which can bring a higher percentage in case of low turnout. In other words, it’s in the thieves’ best interest for you not to vote because they get their zombie voters out and stay in power.
And although often enough the electoral offers are not very attractive, we still have to vote. If we fail to identify candidates who seem all right, at least we should choose the ones who are “the best of the worst”. If we have to choose between some mediocre people, at least choose the least mediocre ones or the least evil. And if, in addition to the lesser evil, we also find parties or candidates we like, that’s even better.
Our elections can be improved if we apply certain basic principles to the selection of parties and candidates we vote for. These principles, and especially their violation by candidates and parties, can validate or disqualify certain candidates. Principles such as: no convicted people in public offices, no party switching (the act of leaving from one party for another only for electoral purposes), no nepotism (people who are on electoral lists just because they are friends or relatives of the “boss”). And the most important indicator is whether that person has personal and professional achievements. If a person failed to achieve anything professionally and could not find a solution to improve his own life, how will he be able to bring solutions to improve the life of the population?
In 2024, there will be 4 rounds of elections (presidential, parliamentary, local and for the European Parliament). Following these elections, Romania’s medium and long-term future will be determined. Such an election alignment may occur once every 20 years or so. Through these elections we can decide whether we give power to modernizing pro-European forces or we leave it or give it to extremist and corrupt forces. We have the opportunity to get rid of the extremist Russophile anti-Semitic nationalist party AUR and to bury once and for all the communist ghost – PSD, who have been in power in Romania for the last 30 years directly or indirectly. This party has proved that all it does is to promote corruption, nepotism and underdevelopment through corruption, being the only party to have had two criminal presidents (who also went to prison for corruption).
In 2024 we will have the opportunity to put Romania on a less corrupt, a pro-European path that will develop the country with EU funds and investments. We will be able to vote for a new political class, composed of more young, uncorrupted people with careers of their own, people to replace the incompetent, the corrupt, the illiterate and those who compromise with the corrupt (the main typologies of our political class over the last 33 years). And if we can’t find those people, we’ll have to vote for the people closest to what I described before.
We can put Romania on a better path, that of modernization, of the fight against corruption andof investments. Or we can keep the status quo of the last 30 years. If we fail to make a change in 2024, we risk staying a country crushed by poverty, lack of education and corruption, driving with the handbrake pulled up and being pulled ahead by the events and by Europe.
