Mexico will hold elections soon, but some polls say only 50% of Mexicans are eligible to vote.
What do you think? How would you raise that number?
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Catalina Vargas, lawyer, 35.
I looked into what’s up, and it seems our level of participation isn’t so uncommon, but we’re low compared to ‘developed’ countries and even to South America. I believe there’s little trust in the government and a lack of voting culture (as well as a lack of facilities in remote communities) What happens in some countries in Latin America or Europe is that voting is legally mandatory, with either penalties for those who don’t vote or incentives for those who do.
Diego Navarro, robotics engineer, 42. Well, to be honest, most politicians and candidates are not great. They all attack each other and don’t offer projects to improve the country; they just promise things without a plan. In part, that’s because the people who vote don’t vote based on projects. Most people vote for whoever insulted the other better. So, we can’t completely blame politicians for selling the type of politician that the market wants to buy.
Valeria Sánchez, teacher, 29.
I believe there’s a bit of everything. Let me give you an example: my dad is a politician’s number one fan, but he never voted for him because his voter registration had his old address, and he was assigned to a polling station far away, and he couldn’t be bothered. However, he is the biggest supporter I know, and who understands him. He didn’t even make the effort to go and vote for him. Oh, but he’s the first one in line to collect his pension and fight on social media to defend him.
Arturo Reyes, doctor, 50.
There’s no political culture, I think that’s what this government has done well, making public debates about politics more common, because it’s necessary since people were accustomed for many years to perceive that there were no true regime changes, so it didn’t matter whether to vote or not.
Luna Montenegro, architect, 38. This is going to be the first election in which I’m not going to vote. After about 20 years of voting and realizing that even when the candidate I voted for wins, things remain the same at best or turn out to be even more corrupt at worst. As long as the system of having a ‘political career’ exists and politicians spend their lives campaigning, they will never have incentives to work well. Unless there’s another case like ‘it’s necessary to vote for the least worst so someone dangerous doesn’t win,’ I don’t plan to vote again.
Santiago Morales, driver, 45. I believe (I don’t have data) that those who don’t vote are simply disappointed with the process, and I think it’s easy to understand why: When you see faces on the ballots and it’s evident that no person in power has a genuine interest in helping, voting becomes an absolute waste of time. And now it’s worse because we are paying taxes to a government that does nothing to defend us. Why the hell would I waste my time? My vote doesn’t count; none of the candidates put in front of me are people willing to do what’s necessary to fix the country. And honestly, who can blame them? Who would want to swim against the current in that way? I feel that the government of Mexico is rotten and there is no way to save it, but I’m open to hearing words that give me hope.
