By Orla WalshIn the 2004 European elections only 58.5% of voters turned up to cast their vote. The projected turnout for the 5th of June has estimated a decrease to 45%. Why do such a large amount of people neglect their vote? Orla Walsh reports.
There are approximately three million Irish citizens along with 246 thousand other citizens of the European Union who will be entitled to vote in a few weeks time. The 2004 elections generally continued the downward trend in voter turnout with a participation figure of 45.5% for the European Union as a whole. According to http://www.euractiv.com/, of the fifteen countries that took part in the 1999 elections, nine of these showed a decrease in voting numbers. What has happened to cause this disenchantment with the European Union? Is it lack of knowledge? Is it just that we feel the European Union can do nothing for us?
Catherine Moore, a graduate of European Studies says that she will be using her vote in the upcoming elections. “I really dislike the way people abstain from voting, yet give out about the way things are run. Voting is the voice we are democratically given and it's important to use it,” she said.
The European Union is making decisions that effect you: food, travel, the environment and most importantly the economic downturn are just some of the issues that Ireland entrusts to the Union. The only way you can make sure your views are heard is to elect the right people to represent Ireland.
Fianna Fáil's Paschal Mooney said that he feels that a lot of it is down to the national media in all European countries playing down the importance of European issues in favour of national ones. “The voting population attach more importance to the national parliaments than to the European parliaments. It's a tug of war really... Europe is somewhere out there,” he said.
Ireland will elect 12 MEPs through the elections taking place on the fifth of June, three from each constituency. Eight percent of surveyed Irish voters said they definitely will not be voting.
Neil Treacy, an 18 year old college student feels that it is because the public do not understand enough about what the European Union can do for us. “We know more about the local councillors because they tend to have more simple policies,” he said.
Independent candidate Marian Harkin said the she felt people have become cynical about politics. “Politicians have made promises they couldn't keep and people are tired of that. People are very despondent about the current economic situation...They're at a point where they are all saying 'well, what difference does it make?',” she said.
We have been given the right to vote and yet so many chose to neglect it. Voting is the only way that we can be sure that our views will be heard, by choosing those who we trust to represent us. And, as Fianna Fail's Eoin Ryan bluntly put it at a press conference recently, the MEPs will be elected whether we vote or not.
