Forty-Eight Percent

I am disappointed in tonight's' election results. I had hoped that the Liberals would not get a majority, I had hoped for a stronger showing by the NDP. I was pleased that the Green party won a seat, but appalled at the low voter turnout of 48%.

Forty-eight percent. Something's clearly not working here.

I took an introductory political science class in 2008 while applying for my BSW program. I wrote my final paper comparing electoral systems that elect minority governments. What I remember from my conclusions was that coalition governments do work; political parties do cooperate when populations continue to elect minority governments. These coalition governments had to compromise on policy matters, responding to a wider percentage of the population of the particular countries studied.

I don't recall if there was also a positive impact on the popular vote. I think our first past the post system is a dismal reflection of the percentage of the population that makes up the "popular" vote. I think the Green party's election to a seat in the last federal election and now in the provincial election, both historic firsts, is a triumph over this dismal conundrum.

Forty-eight percent.

Something's clearly not working. Is it apathy? I don't know, but I'm interested in finding out more about what people who don't vote think. Why don't they vote? What might make a difference? How does the political system need to change to include them?

I think of countries around the globe today, countries with unequal access to the right to vote. I think of our very recent suffragette history, of the bloody American Civil Rights movement. I think of Paolo Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, and I have to reject apathy, perhaps in favour of overwhelm? Who knows. It 's something to focus on other than my anger and frustration.