Factors that influence voter participation in elections
THE BASIS of every democratic system of government is that there are government representatives that are selected by the people/the electorate.
1. Voter participation is affected by family beliefs/tradition/loyalty, neighbourhood factors/election antagonism.
2. Individuals usually need a reason to vote, and voter apathy/indifference is the voters’ lack of interest for politics or towards the candidate.
3. Voter participation is inevitably tied to campaign issues and voter loyalty to party politics.
4. Campaign strategies and candidate can affect outcome. Is the candidate someone who is personally known or you have been personally contacted by a candidate?
6. Voting may be viewed by many as a cultural and civic tradition.
7. Voter education, it is argued, is one of the important factors in a person’s reason for voting. The more educated it is said that a person is, the more probable it is that he/she will vote.
8. Trust in the government relates to voters’ attitudes towards the government. People are less likely to vote if they don’t trust the government.
9. Campaign issues and how extreme these concerns are and how much they affect the individual, can determine outcome.
10. Voters’ age will also affect their voting. Voter participation in elections may, therefore, be affected by attitudinal factors, assessments of the individuality of the candidates, evaluations of government performance, direction on specific policy issues, party manifesto and principles are among the main reasons for the choice of a candidate.
GOVERNMENT SYSTEMS IN THE COMMONWEALTH CARIBBEAN OBJECTIVES
i. Differentiate between the types of government systems in the Commonwealth Caribbean.
ii. The Commonwealth Caribbean: This is used to refer to the independent English-speaking countries of the Caribbean region. These countries were once colonies of Britain. This term has replaced the customary term of ‘British West Indies’.
TYPES OF GOVERNMENTS
Can you think of some types of governments in our world?
There are various types of governments to be found worldwide. Governments can be classified into several types. Types of government system that existed or exists in the Caribbean region are:
CROWN COLONY
A country is referred to as a crown colony because it is/was once a British colony that came under the direct legislative control of the British Crown and does not possess its own system of representative government. Montserrat is still a Crown Colony. This system of government is based on British colonial administration. With this system of government, Britain retains control over defence, foreign affairs, internal security and various administrative and budget matters of a colony. Within the country with a Crown Colony government, internal government is by a British-appointed governor and a locally elected assembly. In the late 1980s, the British Crown Colonies in the Caribbean consisted of the British Virgin Islands, the Cayman Islands, Montserrat, and the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Crown Colony government was limited to Trinidad and St Lucia before the Morant Bay Rebellion, which took place in Jamaica in 1865. Over the next 35 years, the old representative system (ORS) was abolished. The ORS, with its ominous assembly that had flourished on many of the islands, was replaced by the Crown Colony government and the colonies were then governed directly by the Colonial Office in Britain and by a British-appointed governor on each island. This system was modified and by the 1940s, the Crown Colony system made local councils more representative and gave local officials more administrative responsibility. However, defence, foreign affairs and internal security remained the responsibility of the Crown.
CONSTITUTIONAL MONARCHY
This describes a system of government where a monarch shares power with a constitutionally elected government. The monarch may be, in, reality the head of state or merely a ceremonial leader. The rest of the government’s power is vested in a constitution that utilises a legislature and a judiciary. In this form of government, there is a constitution, and the head of state is a monarch who acts within its guidelines. Like Jamaica, most constitutional monarchies in the Caribbean employ what is called a parliamentary system, in which the monarch may have strictly ceremonial duties. This function is carried out by the governor general in Jamaica, the queen’s appointed representative. In a constitutional monarchy, there is a role for a prime minister, who is the head of government and exercises political power. The head of state remains the same even as governments change. As the head of state in a constitutional monarch, the sovereign must, therefore, remain politically neutral. On nearly all matters, the sovereign acts on the counsel of the prime minister. As the head of state, he is responsible for formally appointing prime ministers, approving certain legislation and bestowing honours.
REPUBLICANISM
Republicanism is the principles held by members of a republic. It is a state in which ultimate authority is held by the people and their selected representatives, and which has an elected or nominated president. Within the Caribbean, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago are republics. Trinidad and Tobago has a two-party system and a bicameral parliamentary system based on the English government, the Westminster system. The head of state of Trinidad and Tobago is the president. The head of government is the prime minister. The prime minister is elected from the results of a general election, which takes place every five years. Like the governor general, the president is required to appoint the leader of the party who, in his opinion, has the most support of the members of the House of Representatives to this post.
ACTIVITY
1. Explain the following statement “Voting gives you a chance to be heard”.
2. State THREE reasons why you would vote or encourage someone else to vote.
3. Differentiate between the THREE main types of government systems in the Caribbean region. Maureen Campbell teaches at St Hugh’s High School. Send comments to kerry-ann.hepburn@gleanerjm.com.