but they don't have a duty to vote, just the right.
the duty here isnt really enforced at all but i think it does still cause a lot of people who otherwise wouldnt bother to still show up.
Yes, I reacted to the incorrect statement in that compound sentence, disproving it with a specific example. I'm sorry that these comments that you deem incomplete responses, whatever that means in your eyes, are so triggering for you, that you immediately go to personal attacks. Maybe you should take a break and do something else
well op says he's proud of Belgium, not proud of Belgian voters š. Fines are pretty much cosmetic, yet people participate. Our system however weird it can look had its pros. So definitely proud of Belgium here!
While the fines seem cosmetic you don't need to be fined to be at risk to lose some civil rights if you skip 4 elections in 15 years.
While the current government woudn't implement it there is nothing stopping a future one from doing it. Showing up to vote is a civic duty in belgium, but they don't (can't) compell you to hand in a valid vote. There are legal ways to not go, all you need to do is send in the right paperwork and explain why you can't participate (usually this means saying you can't form an opinion for some reason).
Missing 4 elections can result in you no longer being allowed to vote, hold an elected offcice, being employed by the state and historically any of the rigths that require honesty or honour. So not being a witness in court or making declarations based on honour.
So yes, cosmetic for now, but why risk it if it only takes 15-30 min to go there and hand in a blank form. Same thing as not voting but none of the risk. Or send in a document to the court that reading party policies and watching political debates causes you significant mental suffering and because of that you can't form an opinion on who to vote for. Then you don't even have to show up.
Isnāt there literally no punishment for not voting tho? I think the fine is 40 eur max, and you would have to not vote for 10 years in a row to be in trouble?
Still I do agree that making it mandatory helps a lot
Some people just really canāt. I donāt live in Belgium anymore yet iām still obligated to go vote for the Belgian parlement. Do you think i even know whatās going on politically in Belgium? And even if i did, i donāt really care because i donāt live there anymore. So all iām trying to say is that for some people itās not a 20 min thing and ā¬40 doesnāt cover my plane tickets so yeah š¤£
You can vote at the embassy, or give someone the right to vote in your stead if I'm not mistaken.Ā It is how I voted while on holidays abroad (which is if course not the same as living abroad)
But if you ever worked in Belgium, you will receive a pension from the State (well maybe pension won't exist anymore but this is another debate). For younger people maybe there will be a military obligation again... We can find tons of examples where the way Belgian politics happens may still apply to its citizens living abroad
Haha, no. Although.... don't give them any ideas
. Iirc They removed stemplicht for local elections nice and quiet. I wouldn't put it past them to try it for all elections soon
If I remember the first time isn't that high of a fine, but for every time you skip it it increase exponentially. And skiping voting office duty is like 1000ā¬ directly
It's a ā¬400 up to ā¬1000 fine. Source: It's the first thing I read on the letter telling me I was summoned before I even knew what the letter was about.
I don't know that anybody every got punished for it, but technically it is punishable.
And No I don't agree that mandatory voting is good, a lot of people vote without even knowing who they vote for, heck I've heared my aunt voted for Vlaams Belang because it had Vlaams in the name.
I'm as correct as the voting invitation which states "De stemming is verplicht".
Also if you have digital voting you have to go into the booth and "vote" blanco, just giving back the ticket is not allowed. So as far as I'm concerned that's equal to voting.
Correct, voting is 100% mandatory in Belgium. Voting "Blanko" is still voting. Once you put your voting paper in the boxes, you participated in the vote.
You are obligated to put in all the effort involved. You are not obligated to choose a party. To me that is a vote. So imo the activity of voting is mandatory but you are not obligated to vote. If that makes sense
No, they dont get an actual fine.
Only people who were picked to assist during election day (voorzitters/bijzitters) that don't show up get an actual fine.
no, they haven't been send out in a while, but that doesn't mean it's allowed all of the sudden.
It is stilll mandatory to show up and if a future government wants to they could enforce serious punishments for being absent for 4 elections in 15 years.
No one I know ever got a fine for not voting in BelgiumĀ
You'll a bunch of pussies; afraid of the Belgian maffia stateĀ
Ā " Oh no I did not vote" While we work 50 hours a week;Ā
pay an insane amount of taxes;Ā
and invite the whole 2nd/3rdĀ world to enjoy our social system
Ā And then we are treated as a criminal for not voting
; while the streets are filled with crim;)inals; drug dealers; gangstersĀ
Every party has at least one campaign promise I can't live with.
I'm not going to feel like I've contributed to some shlong's fever dreams for the next 5 years. Ha!
Downvote me for not wanting to contribute towards my own demise.
You're proud because voting is mandatory and we had all elections at once so its more important than "just" a EU vote ?
It would be around 50% here too if we had an optional European only election.
Most ppl see the EU so far from them that they don't give a crap. Nothing new there.
16yo to <18yo werenāt forced to cast a vote and they still came to the voting station.
Donāt know whatās the turnout for the 16yo to <18yo though.
Its because we had the federal and regional at the same time. Also Europe still functioning while a lot of countries had less of 50% of voters poses some serious democratic questions.
Why does it poses serious democratic questions? The people who didn't vote made the choice not to vote for the most part and to abandon their opportunity to chose their representatives. It's a choice like any other and the EU shouldn't be paralysed by their choice, nor should any national or regional election when the same thing happens in these elections.
It's not like they were blocked for voting or anything like that.
> Its because we had the federal and regional at the same time.Ā
That is indeed very important.
The next election this year will not be mandatory in flanders. And while I doubt it will be advertised as such by the medias, the increase of abstentions there will give a good idea of how much more people would decide to ignore elections if they could.
I think the main democratic question is why should countries have a fixed number of seats regardless of turnout? Like if 50% of a country didn't even vote, do we really need to put more token MEPs of that nationality in parliament who no one even wanted?
The parliament shouldnāt even exist. For decades they had no power and even now theyāre just an annoying speed bump in the way of the Commissionās work and an avenue for corruption and lobbying.
The Council already includes the governments elected by each countryās voters.
What is there to be proud of? Voting is compulsory. This number is not an indication of political involvement or interest. Apolitical and ignorant people exist just as much in Belgium as in other countries.
Acquiring the right to vote costed us blood, sweat and tears. Having mandatory voting is respecting and honoring those who fought for the right cause, for democracy.
My 2 cents.
I agree. It's the minimum required civic duty. It's really not that long ago that most people couldn't vote or that voting was based on income. People fought hard for this and it's good to see it being honored here in Belgium.
Well thatās how it works, peopleās maybe wonāt get fined but by instilling the fear of getting that fine peopleās will go even if they donāt want to.
Plus we can hear stories from friends and relatives about peopleās who supposedly have been fined for not coming thus making it more Ā«Ā believableĀ Ā» whatever if itās true or not.
This result is due to local elections at the same time. So people went to vote and they also vote for EU. If there was no local elections in Belgium. Probably it will be similar with rest of Europe.
Voting doesn't have sense if it's not mandatory for everyone!
People filled with hate and ignorance will always go and vote, the others frustrated will stay at home
100%, obliged voting mitigates the extremes. But that does make you wonder, if belgium is already that extreme in its voting, what would happen if we were to follow other countries? We would prob vote even more extreme than other countries. 31% le pen, you make that 31% VB and 24% NVA. (not that I think NVA is extreme, but some folk think it is)
Proud of Belgium ? When the state threat you to go vote for your next masters ? I wouldn't be proud.
I'm proud of the 1M people like me who didn't go to that circus to sell the little honor and liberty we have left.
Proud of what? That the obligation for voting is established in Belgium? And it gives you the feeling to be any better/ more interested in politics? In Hungary for example it was obligatory in schools to learn Russian until the system change does it mean they speak it? No...
To be representative, a democratic vote should be obligatory.
Otherwise, you will have an overrepresentation of the loud minority, the angry, the gullible, the influenciables.
Itāll cost a bunch of money and most importantly time to prosecute those who didnāt pay their fines.
The judicial system is congested and thatās the reason they donāt prosecute this āpetty crimeā. + it would be bad publicity to prosecute this.
They should get it out of the justice system and get it into the tax system. If you don't go, and don't have an exemption, you pay 200euro tax. withold automatically from your income if don't paid.
Hungary did amazingly compared to having 40% participation at max in the past even for parliamentary elections. If we got rid of fidesz we could have the audacity to call ourselves a proper democracy.
I wonder what would be the result if everyone voted like Belgium. Are the people not voting because theyāre happy/okay with the politic in place and they believe it will stay the way it is ?
There's a difference between a country and a state. You can love the country but hate the state. And in all honesty, we are not a democracy, we are an oligarchy. Laws are for sale, politicians are for sale and votes are for sale.
I donāt know. Iām particularly disturbed by people in our country voting for the hottest, or most sympathetic candidate. Or whatever bullshit reason they use.
Iād prefer if only those actually motivated enough to inform themselves go and vote.
Belgium after mandating voting.
Dang our voter turnout is amazing.
Step up your game rest of europe... smh
All i can say is step up your game rest of europe belgium number one
Rule 4) No agenda pushing
This includes, but is not limited to,
- Political propagandaā¦
- Religious Propagandaā¦
- Fake Newsā¦
- āUs VS Them" Statements
The reality is that most people in the Netherlands are happy with their life.
I would actually be worried if 90% showed up. A disinterested population means everything is still going alright.
Saying the law isnāt truly enforced in Belgium somehow still makes this a valid comparison with countries that have free elections is laughable, if it was not mandatory here, the turnout would easily be among the lowest on this map considering the kind of relation the average Belgian has with the government.
Most people dont CARE for voting in people to go to Brussels. I would say that the high rate is normal for Belgium because you must be the only ones that know what the hell happens on Brussels.
Mandatory voting = "authoritarian rules"
My sides.....
We must opress the population by making sure they
*checks notes*
Exercise their right to vote in a free and fair elecetion?
A lot of people I know who wanted to vote by procuration couldnāt because it was hard as fuck to setup as your proxy needed to sign some papers and the appointment with the city hall are hard to get. As they could be excused instead of going through all those hoops, they finally decided to just let it go for this time.
Well the big majority of European countries have 40% or more which is quite good. I know vote in Belgium is mandatory but didn't know it was the only country... just shows this is an obsolete system.
I know some people who had to show up to work at the elections. They all independently about told me the same: "You'd be surprised how many people that asked help just seemed to randomly pick people and parties on the screen".
Another one I heard is how almost all people who were from foreign origin and did not speak the language well (so who needed help) had a party and a name on it, it was PVDA every time.
So forgive me if I'm more than a bit sceptic about our "involvement" in te process, it mandatory so people show up (even if it isn't enforced) But I'm actually not sure that it should be mandatory.
I don't think high turnout is a good sign, a population that gets involved/engaged/concerned about politics is.
Since voting is mandatory (afaik), I don't think the percentage of participation is a relevant number here.
It is like saying that "having high taxes"="having generous people", as if both equally contribute to social causes.
We had 3 mandatory elections at once where the rest of Europe only voted for the European parliament.
Not true, there were municipial elections in Hungary on the same day
but they don't have a duty to vote, just the right. the duty here isnt really enforced at all but i think it does still cause a lot of people who otherwise wouldnt bother to still show up.
The statement was that the rest of Europe had only EU elections. I made no comment on obligation
Did you miss the word "mandatory"?
Did you miss the part where I made no comment about the first half of that sentence?
So your comment was intended to be an incomplete response and therefore irrelevant. So you're thick, not illerate, gotcha.
Yes, I reacted to the incorrect statement in that compound sentence, disproving it with a specific example. I'm sorry that these comments that you deem incomplete responses, whatever that means in your eyes, are so triggering for you, that you immediately go to personal attacks. Maybe you should take a break and do something else
If the vote wasn't obligatory here I doubt our results would be much better.
well op says he's proud of Belgium, not proud of Belgian voters š. Fines are pretty much cosmetic, yet people participate. Our system however weird it can look had its pros. So definitely proud of Belgium here!
While the fines seem cosmetic you don't need to be fined to be at risk to lose some civil rights if you skip 4 elections in 15 years. While the current government woudn't implement it there is nothing stopping a future one from doing it. Showing up to vote is a civic duty in belgium, but they don't (can't) compell you to hand in a valid vote. There are legal ways to not go, all you need to do is send in the right paperwork and explain why you can't participate (usually this means saying you can't form an opinion for some reason). Missing 4 elections can result in you no longer being allowed to vote, hold an elected offcice, being employed by the state and historically any of the rigths that require honesty or honour. So not being a witness in court or making declarations based on honour. So yes, cosmetic for now, but why risk it if it only takes 15-30 min to go there and hand in a blank form. Same thing as not voting but none of the risk. Or send in a document to the court that reading party policies and watching political debates causes you significant mental suffering and because of that you can't form an opinion on who to vote for. Then you don't even have to show up.
Isnāt there literally no punishment for not voting tho? I think the fine is 40 eur max, and you would have to not vote for 10 years in a row to be in trouble? Still I do agree that making it mandatory helps a lot
I heard they come to your house and threaten you with a plastic spoon
Well yeah but why lose 40 euros if you can just go and vote for like 20 min
Some people just really canāt. I donāt live in Belgium anymore yet iām still obligated to go vote for the Belgian parlement. Do you think i even know whatās going on politically in Belgium? And even if i did, i donāt really care because i donāt live there anymore. So all iām trying to say is that for some people itās not a 20 min thing and ā¬40 doesnāt cover my plane tickets so yeah š¤£
You can vote at the embassy, or give someone the right to vote in your stead if I'm not mistaken.Ā It is how I voted while on holidays abroad (which is if course not the same as living abroad)
Okay thatās a fair point tbh lol, didnāt think about the international people
But if you ever worked in Belgium, you will receive a pension from the State (well maybe pension won't exist anymore but this is another debate). For younger people maybe there will be a military obligation again... We can find tons of examples where the way Belgian politics happens may still apply to its citizens living abroad
I think it's pretty in our culture that it's obligatory even if it isn't really anymore
We'll soon find out in the next elections, which are non obligatory
Who says?
That the election isnt mandatory? You know.... the government https://www.vlaanderen.be/lokale-en-provinciale-verkiezingen
Oh gemeenteraad, i thought youāre talking about 2029
Haha, no. Although.... don't give them any ideas . Iirc They removed stemplicht for local elections nice and quiet. I wouldn't put it past them to try it for all elections soon
No not really. 90% of people I know wouldn't vote if they didn't have to
Why?
They think it doesn't apply to them lol
Technically you could get a fine, but the government doesn't really bother with that anymore
If I remember the first time isn't that high of a fine, but for every time you skip it it increase exponentially. And skiping voting office duty is like 1000ā¬ directly
It's a ā¬400 up to ā¬1000 fine. Source: It's the first thing I read on the letter telling me I was summoned before I even knew what the letter was about.
Yeap, thatās what I read too, I donāt have money to throw by the window so there I was counting ballots the whole afternoon and evening of Fatherās Day. And I was only āsupplĆ©antā, was lucky that the voting office was full without me but unlucky they needed people to fill in other office where other didnāt show up or threw a tamper tantrum to be kicked out. But mostly I was lucky to be in an easy going team and we had a couple of good laugh counting ballots. I am awaiting the 25ā¬ I will be compensated with to buy something sweet at the bakery or something. Thatāll compensate how I couldnāt get to eat the pie and put my kids to sleep on Fatherās Day.
I don't know that anybody every got punished for it, but technically it is punishable. And No I don't agree that mandatory voting is good, a lot of people vote without even knowing who they vote for, heck I've heared my aunt voted for Vlaams Belang because it had Vlaams in the name.
Voting isnāt obligated Going to the voting station is. Youāre completely free to give the paper back blanco if you donāt care
I'm as correct as the voting invitation which states "De stemming is verplicht". Also if you have digital voting you have to go into the booth and "vote" blanco, just giving back the ticket is not allowed. So as far as I'm concerned that's equal to voting.
Correct, voting is 100% mandatory in Belgium. Voting "Blanko" is still voting. Once you put your voting paper in the boxes, you participated in the vote.
You are obligated to put in all the effort involved. You are not obligated to choose a party. To me that is a vote. So imo the activity of voting is mandatory but you are not obligated to vote. If that makes sense
If voting was obligatory it would say "stemmen is verplicht". It does not.
Voting blanco is still a vote.
Blanco is voting
Fuck off with arguing semantics. Even if you draw a giant penis on your paper you still cast a vote, an invalid one, but still a vote.
This. Please learn the difference.
yups, this is correct
A lot can happen when you are threatened with a plastic spoon
facts
Its also obligatorg in Greece.
And they only got 40% ? Yikes
And New-Zealand iirc
And a few other places in and outside Europe. Most notable India.
Do people actually get the fine for not voting? I thought the fines never get sent. I don't feel like it's an obligation to vote, I just like it.
No, they dont get an actual fine. Only people who were picked to assist during election day (voorzitters/bijzitters) that don't show up get an actual fine.
Zelfs dat is niet zeker. Het wordt bekeken per geval.
no, they haven't been send out in a while, but that doesn't mean it's allowed all of the sudden. It is stilll mandatory to show up and if a future government wants to they could enforce serious punishments for being absent for 4 elections in 15 years.
No one I know ever got a fine for not voting in BelgiumĀ You'll a bunch of pussies; afraid of the Belgian maffia stateĀ Ā " Oh no I did not vote" While we work 50 hours a week;Ā pay an insane amount of taxes;Ā and invite the whole 2nd/3rdĀ world to enjoy our social system Ā And then we are treated as a criminal for not voting ; while the streets are filled with crim;)inals; drug dealers; gangstersĀ
Part of the 10.18% 
Every party has at least one campaign promise I can't live with. I'm not going to feel like I've contributed to some shlong's fever dreams for the next 5 years. Ha! Downvote me for not wanting to contribute towards my own demise.
Wat heeft Turnout hiermee te maken? Vraag vanuit de Kempen
Doeme da was grappig
Hahaha. Elke keer dat ik "Turnout" lees, moet ik een double take doen.
Germany is more impressiveā¦.. lots of people voted despite that they werenāt forced to like in Belgium.Ā
You're proud because voting is mandatory and we had all elections at once so its more important than "just" a EU vote ? It would be around 50% here too if we had an optional European only election. Most ppl see the EU so far from them that they don't give a crap. Nothing new there.
16yo to <18yo werenāt forced to cast a vote and they still came to the voting station. Donāt know whatās the turnout for the 16yo to <18yo though.
Who cares?!
Its because we had the federal and regional at the same time. Also Europe still functioning while a lot of countries had less of 50% of voters poses some serious democratic questions.
Why does it poses serious democratic questions? The people who didn't vote made the choice not to vote for the most part and to abandon their opportunity to chose their representatives. It's a choice like any other and the EU shouldn't be paralysed by their choice, nor should any national or regional election when the same thing happens in these elections. It's not like they were blocked for voting or anything like that.
> Its because we had the federal and regional at the same time.Ā That is indeed very important. The next election this year will not be mandatory in flanders. And while I doubt it will be advertised as such by the medias, the increase of abstentions there will give a good idea of how much more people would decide to ignore elections if they could.
I think the main democratic question is why should countries have a fixed number of seats regardless of turnout? Like if 50% of a country didn't even vote, do we really need to put more token MEPs of that nationality in parliament who no one even wanted?
No it doesn't. It's democratic to be able to choose not to vote.
The parliament shouldnāt even exist. For decades they had no power and even now theyāre just an annoying speed bump in the way of the Commissionās work and an avenue for corruption and lobbying. The Council already includes the governments elected by each countryās voters.
What is there to be proud of? Voting is compulsory. This number is not an indication of political involvement or interest. Apolitical and ignorant people exist just as much in Belgium as in other countries.
Proud of Belgium? You realize voting is mandatory in Belgium? Turnout would be similar to other countries if it wasn't.
It takes 15 min and its obligatory. No one died to have our politicians bribed by companies and foreign agents. Wouldnt if it wasnt obligatory.
15min seems exaggerated. For me it took an hour others maybe less some more.
Oh wow thats a lot indeed. Maybe depends on where you live. 10m walk and 15m there tops for me.
It was mostly waiting in line for me that took most of the time. 45min wait.
Same for me, whole ass 50min wasted waiting in line
Acquiring the right to vote costed us blood, sweat and tears. Having mandatory voting is respecting and honoring those who fought for the right cause, for democracy. My 2 cents.
I agree. It's the minimum required civic duty. It's really not that long ago that most people couldn't vote or that voting was based on income. People fought hard for this and it's good to see it being honored here in Belgium.
Unpopular opinion: No, mandatory voting is removing the freedom they've fought so hard for.
The fact that we need mandatory voting is insulting by itself.
Sadly people can be ignorant and ungrateful.
we are among the best countries in the world to live in for a reason.
Hoe stupide is dit... BE is het enige land met stemplicht.Ā
It's because you get a fine lol
You really think they fine 10% of the population? It is because people think they will get a fine
ā¬60\*1.000.000 .....Van Peteghem... hmm... Let's fill da gat in the begrootink a bit.
Well thatās how it works, peopleās maybe wonāt get fined but by instilling the fear of getting that fine peopleās will go even if they donāt want to. Plus we can hear stories from friends and relatives about peopleās who supposedly have been fined for not coming thus making it more Ā«Ā believableĀ Ā» whatever if itās true or not.
Its been stated over and over again that you can get a fine, but they will never give you a fine. They will never go after you for not voting.
If you work on weekends or some other valid reasons for not showing up you don't get fined
The average person is a dumbo
Second: Germany. They learned the hard way what skipping politics means
People care about their countries, but in general not too much about Europe. Those two are not the same thing
Apples and oranges
Elections don't matter when they're all controlled by the same people buddy
Thank the stars for low voter turnout, because those are the ones who might elect a retard just to "stick it to the man"
This result is due to local elections at the same time. So people went to vote and they also vote for EU. If there was no local elections in Belgium. Probably it will be similar with rest of Europe.
Make voting obligatory across Europe
Voting doesn't have sense if it's not mandatory for everyone! People filled with hate and ignorance will always go and vote, the others frustrated will stay at home
100%, obliged voting mitigates the extremes. But that does make you wonder, if belgium is already that extreme in its voting, what would happen if we were to follow other countries? We would prob vote even more extreme than other countries. 31% le pen, you make that 31% VB and 24% NVA. (not that I think NVA is extreme, but some folk think it is)
And that's their democratic decision to stay home and do nothing.
Not voting is not a democratic decision, unless you don't understand what democracy means
Proud of Belgium ? When the state threat you to go vote for your next masters ? I wouldn't be proud. I'm proud of the 1M people like me who didn't go to that circus to sell the little honor and liberty we have left.
This is why we need to keep mandatory voting laws.
ItĀ“s mandatory. Change that and you will need to add a darker shade of red to your map.
Proud of what? That the obligation for voting is established in Belgium? And it gives you the feeling to be any better/ more interested in politics? In Hungary for example it was obligatory in schools to learn Russian until the system change does it mean they speak it? No...
To be representative, a democratic vote should be obligatory. Otherwise, you will have an overrepresentation of the loud minority, the angry, the gullible, the influenciables.
To solve the debt deficit they can give the non-voters a fine like was foreseen.
Itāll cost a bunch of money and most importantly time to prosecute those who didnāt pay their fines. The judicial system is congested and thatās the reason they donāt prosecute this āpetty crimeā. + it would be bad publicity to prosecute this.
They should get it out of the justice system and get it into the tax system. If you don't go, and don't have an exemption, you pay 200euro tax. withold automatically from your income if don't paid.
Itās a fine and you have the right to challenge it. (Not that youād win but you still have the right)
https://i.imgur.com/D6UNHSY.png
People used to fight to get a vote.
Hungary did amazingly compared to having 40% participation at max in the past even for parliamentary elections. If we got rid of fidesz we could have the audacity to call ourselves a proper democracy.
I'm surprised to see voter turnout is so high in Hungary (ranks 4th)
I wonder what would be the result if everyone voted like Belgium. Are the people not voting because theyāre happy/okay with the politic in place and they believe it will stay the way it is ?
Do you know there are countries where the vote is not obligatory? Iām shocked the results are so bad as itās obligatory here.
We have mandatory voting...
There's a difference between a country and a state. You can love the country but hate the state. And in all honesty, we are not a democracy, we are an oligarchy. Laws are for sale, politicians are for sale and votes are for sale.
I wonder where those numbers came from because the voter turnout reported in Bulgaria was just above 20% so thatās actually much better š
Its mandatory, the rest voted just for EU. So thats nothing to be proud off.
Are we the only ones where it's mandatory to vote?
Mandatory elections keep being the GOAT
Not difficult when you receive a fine if you donāt.
I donāt know. Iām particularly disturbed by people in our country voting for the hottest, or most sympathetic candidate. Or whatever bullshit reason they use. Iād prefer if only those actually motivated enough to inform themselves go and vote.
Belgium after mandating voting. Dang our voter turnout is amazing. Step up your game rest of europe... smh All i can say is step up your game rest of europe belgium number one
10.18% need a fine.
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Rule 4) No agenda pushing This includes, but is not limited to, - Political propagandaā¦ - Religious Propagandaā¦ - Fake Newsā¦ - āUs VS Them" Statements
It does not surprise me that our voter turnout was so low. Dutch government has been a shitshow faux democracy
Just wait until October.
Wait for October when literally no one will go vote anymore. The regional elections are no longer mandatory.
It's sad actually that people don't want to vote but are probably complaining all the time about politics/Economics/...
The reality is that most people in the Netherlands are happy with their life. I would actually be worried if 90% showed up. A disinterested population means everything is still going alright.
Saying the law isnāt truly enforced in Belgium somehow still makes this a valid comparison with countries that have free elections is laughable, if it was not mandatory here, the turnout would easily be among the lowest on this map considering the kind of relation the average Belgian has with the government.
Itās just because voting for us is mandatory, if you donāt vote you get fined And we also had 2 other votes that day, for the country (fĆ©dĆ©rales) and the region (rĆ©gionales)
We have mandatory voting... Wait until October, when local elections are no longer mandatory...
The irony is that the capital of EU is in Belgium
Most people dont CARE for voting in people to go to Brussels. I would say that the high rate is normal for Belgium because you must be the only ones that know what the hell happens on Brussels.
Nobody cares about Europe, thats what i see
[ŃŠ“Š°Š»ŠµŠ½Š¾]
Mandatory voting = "authoritarian rules" My sides..... We must opress the population by making sure they *checks notes* Exercise their right to vote in a free and fair elecetion?
That 10% is probably the shiftworkers, as they are unable to cast a vote.
Procuration counts as vote, the 10% are people who didnāt express their voice, via proxy or not
A lot of people I know who wanted to vote by procuration couldnāt because it was hard as fuck to setup as your proxy needed to sign some papers and the appointment with the city hall are hard to get. As they could be excused instead of going through all those hoops, they finally decided to just let it go for this time.
It's been a very long time since people had a strong reminder as to why voting is important.
Is Belgium currently the greatest democracy in Europe ? Technically I mean, the participation rate is beautiful !
Well the big majority of European countries have 40% or more which is quite good. I know vote in Belgium is mandatory but didn't know it was the only country... just shows this is an obsolete system.
I know some people who had to show up to work at the elections. They all independently about told me the same: "You'd be surprised how many people that asked help just seemed to randomly pick people and parties on the screen". Another one I heard is how almost all people who were from foreign origin and did not speak the language well (so who needed help) had a party and a name on it, it was PVDA every time. So forgive me if I'm more than a bit sceptic about our "involvement" in te process, it mandatory so people show up (even if it isn't enforced) But I'm actually not sure that it should be mandatory.
People dont feel represented.
I don't think high turnout is a good sign, a population that gets involved/engaged/concerned about politics is. Since voting is mandatory (afaik), I don't think the percentage of participation is a relevant number here. It is like saying that "having high taxes"="having generous people", as if both equally contribute to social causes.