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Voter apathy was prevalent at the LGE
Dear Editor,
The low turnout at the recent Local Government Elections has brought to the fore the issue of voter apathy, which is not unique to Guyana. Except for the 1994 Local Government Elections when over 60% of voters cast their ballots, voter turnout did not exceed 50% in the two subsequent local government elections, which took place in 2016 and 2018 respectively.
I believe the relatively high voter turnout in 1994 was due to a pervasive sense of a new democratic wind, which swept across the nation following the return to free and fair elections on October 1992, after an absence of nearly three decades.
Be that as it may, there is nothing fundamentally wrong with a voter who chose to stay away from the polls rather than run the risk of making a wrong choice. This is referred in the literature as “functional apathy”.
I have a feeling that many voters, especially in Georgetown, where voter turnout was lower than the national average, opted to stay away from the polls rather than making a wrong choice of voting for candidates who they may not be familiar with or whose past performances were not as impressive.
I take this opportunity to congratulate all those who won their respective constituencies in the city and elsewhere, the low turnout notwithstanding.
Hydar Ally
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