Within the next year, Saint Lucians will vote in General Elections for a Government to run the country for another 5-year term. The question is: how many Saint Lucians will vote?
If electoral trends continue, fewer voters will head to the polls than in 2021, when the average voter turnout was 51%. Castries South-East recorded the highest turnout (60%) while the lowest (40%) was in the Castries Central seat. In 2016, the average turnout was 53.4%, with the highest turnout in Soufriere (60.9%), and the lowest in Castries Central (44.5%). In 2011, the average turnout was 56.8%, with Choiseul recording the highest (67%), and Castries Central again recording the lowest turnout of 47.5 percent.
Castries Central stands out as a special case warranting deeper review, but that’s for another commentary.
One takes little comfort from the fact that voters are disengaging from the political process in droves across the Caribbean. In Jamaica, turnout has declined dramatically from 83% in 1980 to a historic low of 29.6% in 2024. In Guyana’s 2023 Local Government Elections, voter turnout was approximately 34.9%. The Bahamas had a relatively high voter turnout of around 65% in its 2021 elections. However, this represented a notable decrease from previous elections, when turnout averaged over 90%. This decline is partly attributed to the COVID-19 pandemic. In Barbados, voter turnout trends are just as alarming, with a steep decline from 65.9% in 2013 to 44.5% in 2022.
Tellingly, this region-wide trend is occurring even as the size of the electorate is increasing, as young voters attain voting age.
If these trends continue, we could return to Colonial days when the number of electors ranged from 3% of the population in the “Little Eight” islands, to 5% in Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago, and 22% in the Bahamas; and that was primarily because voting was restricted to the propertied class. This leads me to wonder what those who fought so valiantly between 1944 and 1953 to win Universal Adult Suffrage would think of the current situation.
The trends confirm a growing sense of apathy and disillusionment among voters, particularly among young voters. However, trends only reveal symptoms, which can only be addressed if the underlying causes are understood and there is a strong political will to address them. Usually, “political will” is used to refer to the resolve of Governments to improve an unsatisfactory situation. However, here, I am referring to the will of citizens, as all political will resides with the citizens.
Why are millions of Caribbean citizens disengaging from the electoral process? Is it because they are disillusioned with the political system, and if so, why? Is it because they are losing trust in State institutions and if so, why? Is it because they perceive that elections no longer influence the quality of governance? Is it because they believe voting does not lead to meaningful change? Are governments, political parties and civil society organisations concerned about these trends?
It’s frequently argued that a vibrant democracy relies on active and sustained citizen participation, and that Elections are a prime means of holding elected officials accountable for their performance. However, the trends shared earlier suggest that fewer and fewer citizens are swayed by that argument. Those who decide not to vote don’t seem to care that doing so can undermine the legitimacy of elected officials and dilute the system of democratic governance.
In a paper entitled “Politics in the Caribbean”, Robert Buddan attributes the fall-off in voting since Adult Suffrage to the breakdown of two-parent family households, which he believes were critical in reinforcing political socialisation. Single-parent households, he argues, have led to a greater level of relative disinterest in and cynicism towards politics in the region.
Buddan and other political scientists see a connection between high voter turnout during the 1970s and 1980s and a rise in tensions in Caribbean politics, between the socialist ideologies favoured by young voters and the pro-capitalist ideologies embraced by the middle and upper classes. At the time, socialist parties were seen as being more committed to mobilisation and mass participation and as giving the poor and the youth more reasons to become more involved in electoral politics. Sadly, the turnout of young voters is declining across the Caribbean.
It does not appear that Caribbean Governments are sufficiently perturbed to find answers to these questions. I say this because a few Caribbean countries are taking concrete steps to reverse this deepening culture of indifference to elections and to democratic governance writ large. Few are making concerted efforts to engage citizens more, to rebuild trust in political institutions, and to make the electoral process more accessible and relevant to all.
Countries with high voter participation, such as Australia. Denmark, Switzerland, Belgium and New Zealand rely on a mix of compulsory voting, early and continuing civic education and convenient and accessible voting. All countries frame voting as a civic duty.
I have always felt that voting in elections and Referenda is too critical a responsibility to be left to the whims and fancies of citizens. And I have become more unshakable in that view after the results of the 2024 US Elections and critical referenda in some countries on replacing the Privy Council with the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) as a Final Appellate Court. However, I doubt any sitting Government would risk introducing such a rule.
Nothing is stopping Caribbean governments from utilising other strategies. Citizens should be given more opportunities to participate in politics. Determined efforts should be made to rebuild the political socialisation process, especially at the community level, including by reinstating local government elections. I continue to lament the demise of local government in many Caribbean countries. I think this has deprived countries of a priceless “school” to train those wishing to pursue a career in public service. Rebuilding trust in democratic institutions will encourage stronger voter participation.
Until 1953, Voting was not a Right. Now, it’s more than a privilege. It’s a RESPONSIBILITY.