Compulsory voting in Belgium

There are some countries in the world in which voting is compulsory. That means that

all citizens from a certain age are obliged to vote, otherwise the government imposes a

penalty on them. Some of those countries are Argentina, Brazil, Liechtenstein and

Belgium, among others. Let us now look at the compulsory voting system in the last

one mentioned: Belgium.

Belgium introduced the compulsory voting system in 1892 for men and in 1949 for

women. This country was the first one to introduce this system in its law.

People aged 18 and over who do not vote will have to face a moderate fine.

Nevertheless, if they fail to vote in at least four elections, in all likelihood they will lose

the right to vote for 10 years. What is more, those who do not vote may encounter

difficulties getting a job in the public sector.

Needless to say, this system results in a higher voter turnout. However, it is often

argued that this system violates some rights, such as the freedom of choosing not to

vote. Let us explain a few of the arguments for and against compulsory voting.

Firstly, advocates of this system think that decisions made by governments which have

been elected democratically are more legitimate when a higher number of people

participate. They also claim that a real democracy is the one in which all its citizens

vote.

On the other hand, people against compulsory voting believe that this system will not

solve the main problems of a country. Some of them think that the real problems do
not reside in the voting system, but in the politicians. Moreover, others feel that

forcing people to vote is anti-democratic.

To conclude with, I believe that compulsory voting can result in a higher interest of the

population in politics, although I have got mixed feelings about it.

Torres Jiménez, Pilar

Inglés B1

23/11/2017