6.3.5.4 Showing Consent to Political Governance
People must have other ways of showing consent to political governance, in addition to voting, to demonstrate democratic legitimacy.
The election of politicians in a democracy gives them authority. It is a sign that the population has accepted them, which is an useful part of their legitimacy, as described previously (6.3.5.3). It is not always enough, though, and other criteria must be met. The limitations of voting as a means of representing people’s wishes was analysed earlier (6.3.2), and it was vividly illustrated in Britain’s July 2024 election – where tactical voting demonstrated people’s rejection of the government, but didn’t show what they wanted.
A vote is only meaningful if there is a credible opposition that people could vote for. The opposition must be a possible ‘government in waiting’. A political system is undemocratic and authoritarian if opposition has been suppressed (6.3.1.1).
Voting is a form of public negotiation that is less effective if some people don’t vote:
● A society can rapidly become unstable if people, merely by not voting, undermine an elected government. For example, “Violent clashes have taken place in Kosovo between ethnic Serbs and police belonging to the Albanian-led government” after some Kosovan Serbs boycotted local elections in April 2023. Serbians have never accepted Kosovo’s independence, even though they are only 6% of its population.
● Not voting can be a form of silent protest against the system, and a reason to consider changing it. A spoilt ballot paper is a way of indicating this sentiment in some systems.
● Apathy might be regarded as regrettable but it is not necessarily a sign of an illegitimate system. A ‘don’t know’ or ‘don’t care’ box on the ballot might be revealing.
There is thus a good case for making voting compulsory, as it already is in some countries, to reveal more about whether a democratic system is fully legitimate. It also increases people’s sense of having participated in negotiations on governance issues.
Direct interaction with politicians is a useful supplement to voting. In both democratic and authoritarian systems, approval can be indicated in other forms of interaction between the population and those who govern. As discussed later, consultation processes (6.5.3), people’s freedom to speak out (6.8.3), meaningful political negotiation (6.8.4), and procedural ways of getting the best from politicians (6.8.5) are all important.
This page is intended to form part of Edition 4 of the Patterns of Power series of books. An archived copy of it is held at https://www.patternsofpower.org/edition04/6354a.htm.