Sept/Oct 2013 Aff: Turnout Inequality Harms Democracy foundationbriefs.com Page 34 of 104 Democracies must remain majoritarian, DAT Engelen, Bart. Why Compulsory Voting Can Enhance Democracy Acta Politica, 2007, 42. Political participation is also crucial for guaranteeing the legitimacy of a democratic regime. The more citizens abstain, the more the elected bodies lose their accountability. To illustrate the problem one can refer to elections where only a minority of the electorate determines the electoral result.
In elections to the European Parliament, for example, average turnout has declined systematically from 63% of all registered voters in 1979 to a record low of 45.6% in 2004 (EP, 2004). As more than half of the electorate abstains in 18 of the 25 member states, one can hardly speak of popular or majority will (Watson and Tami, 2001). As democracy cannot imply that laws are enacted by legislators representing a minority of eligible voters, one has to conclude that high turnout levels are necessary for any democracy claiming legitimacy.
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