Former Government Adviser Prof Peter Kagwanja. He says compulsory voting could be the way out for Kenya. [Photo: nairobiconfidential.com]
Countries like Kenya where voter turnout is increasingly becoming a thorny issue and legitimacy of governments that come to office after just a few numbers of voters turn out to participate in an election; compulsory voting is fronted as the solution.
Former government adviser, Prof. Peter Kagwanja, also says that where the right to vote risks being manipulated by ethnic mandarins and warlords in electoral disputes, compulsory voting becomes the answer.
"After the 2017 election, where Kenya has experienced the most determined maneuvers to prevent voter turnout, it is time to turn to mandatory voting to increase voter turnout, enhance the legitimacy of democracies, weaken the power of ethnic kingpins and drain the swamps of political extremism," Kagwanja writes on yesterday's Sunday Nation.
He adds that mandatory voting will not only increase voter turnout, tackle the problem of legitimacy, but will also be best positioned to operationalise the doctrine of the sovereign power of the people.
Kagwanja asserts that compulsory voting will be Kenya’s best antidote to election boycotts and rising political extremism.
Kagwanja notes that the right to vote came under attack during the repeat October 26 presidential vote which was marred by the opposition boycott, violence, and intimidation of voters.
Among the countries in the world with compulsory voting and enforced by law include Argentina, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Ecuador, Luxembourg, Singapore, Uruguay and pariah state North Korea.
However, there are other countries that have compulsory voting by law but do not enforce it.
They include Bolivia, Bulgaria, Costa Rica, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Dominican Republic, Egypt, Gabon, Greece.