Page 18 - Issue 72

V O L .1 E L I T E ISSUE 72

Elections without voters

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Latifa ElBaroudi - Political Science - 3 year

The Senate elections held this year were, in despite the efforts made and the
fact, elections without an audience. We advertisements aimed at encouraging
find empty ballot boxes waiting for those citizens to cast their votes, this is not
concerned to fill them with voters' voices. enough. On the other hand, the second
However, in the end, the turnout rate was root of the problem comes from the
17.1%. The problem here is not just the Egyptian citizen. In general based on the
low participation rates, but the bigger and mentioned percentage, this is evidence that
more important issue is that this rate is the citizens do not care about these elections,
highest in the history of the Senate after it and this apathy has many reasons that
was reinstated during the 2019 vary from person to person. Some do not
amendments to the 2014 constitution, trust this type of election in terms of
making the Egyptian parliament consist of integrity, or they do not trust all the
a lower house and an upper house. candidates in terms of their deservingness
And that small percentage sparked for the position. Others lack political
widespread controversy because it clearly awareness and therefore abstain from this
and explicitly indicates the lack of interest type of election.
among eligible voters in these elections, So we find that the matter is very
despite the intensive efforts made and the complicated because the problem has
electoral campaigns held to attract citizens many roots, but encouraging citizens to
to vote. So, is the lack of desire to cast a cast their votes is extremely important.
vote during the Senate elections a problem The question here is how ?
rooted in the state or in the Egyptian To find a solution for the low voter
citizen ? turnout, we need to start from the first
In fact, the low voter turnout in this type root of the problem, which is the state. If
of election is a problem with two roots, the first root of the problem is addressed,
not just one. On one hand, the first root of it will lead to solving part of the second 18
the problem comes from the state, because root of the problem, as the roots of the