Interesting Proposal . . . Forcing People to Vote?
It has come to Norexia's attention that many nations (especially democratic nations) are beginning to force its citizens to vote so that the nation can get a "fair" representation of the nation's populace. Norexia feels that this is ridiculous and should not be an option, whatsoever! Would anyone support any sort of proposal banning the requirement of any given citizen to vote in a nation that holds open elections? Voting, in our opinion, should be a choice, not a requirement. Please, let me know how you'd feel about this . . . thanks!
While I generally agree with your opinion, I don't see that this should be a matter for the United Nations to determine. What grounds do we have to infringe on national sovereignty in this case?
That's exactly what I wanted to know. If the majority of people here thought it was for the UN to decide. That is a good point . . . hmmm . . . but it's a lot like many of the proposals passed here. Who is the UN to keep children out of war (as in the recently passed proposal)? It's a humanity issue. I think that being forced to vote in a nation that holds open elections is damaging to the individual as well as the nation. Your take?
The UN treads a fine line between international issues and national sovereignty.
In your example of the Children in War, that was close... but seeing as if you sent your children off to fight someone else, it would be an international issue. In this case, we're talking about a political ideal. In Gethamane, we're not a democracy, nor any type of representative government at the national level.
Because voting at the national level isn't a necessity for a government, the UN must respect all political ideals until they impact the rest of the world (or even one other nation).
We believe in compulsory voting in the elections for the Assembly, as that is the only way everyone can be represented. The Council is, however, beyond elections.
The DSH considers the lack of a vote effectively a vote in itself - highlighting the political apathy that needs to be redressed, not by forcing people to vote when they might see no benefit in doing so.