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What explains the decline of voter turnout in parliamentary elections over the last
40 years? Discuss with reference to at least Three West European states. ...
Submitted by cbury on December 8, 2005
Category: Social Issues
Words: 2524 | Pages: 11
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What explains the decline of voter turnout in parliamentary elections over the last 40 years? Discuss with reference to at least Three West European states
In the following essay I will discuss the reasons which could be responsible for the decline of the voter turnout in parliamentary elections over the last 40 years. I will reference to the following countries, the United Kingdom, Germany, Italy and also France and Switzerland for a better understanding of the subject.
First I will give a short overview of the topic of voter turnout in Western Europe and the reasons of why voter turnout is declining and what is done by the states to help and solve this issue to then move on and look at the situation in the specific countries.
If you look at the statistics of voter turnout of the last 40 years you can see that voter turnout is not a new issue. But voter turnout has become a more extensively debated issue in Western Europe during the 1990s and the average turnout for elections has indeed declined since the early 1990s.These issues of declining voter turnouts are brought up with “particular concern …after spectacular drops such as the 12 per cent drop in the UK between the general elections of 1997 and 2001….There was a decline in turnout in 11 of the 15 member states between the 1994 and 1999 European elections …” The debate as to whether this decline in voter turnout reflects a significant long-term shift in the willingness of Western European electors to participate in democracy through the act of voting is still ongoing. Of course there is a difference between a low and a declining turnout. A low turnout means a constant low turnout in a country, as found in Switzerland. “Turnout in Switzerland is amongst the lowest in Western Europe” Whereas a decline in voter turnout “indicates change, and could indicate dissatisfaction or a change of perception of the impact of the political system…”
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