In the elections in 2000, 1,014,312 people, or 24% of the electorate did not vote. In the 2004 elections the figure was 1,650,743 (27%) and in 2008, 29% of the electorate did not vote, a total of 1,363,853. In 2012 the percentage of abstentions increased yet again to 1,936,130 or 29.77% of citizens registered to vote.
El Caribe newspaper asks why people do not vote apart from obvious reasons such as Jehovah’s Witnesses who do not exercise their right to vote.
The presidential elections have a lower abstention rate than the congressional and municipal elections, where it is as high as 50%. Political commentators Cesar Cuello and Freddy Angel Castro say that the reasons include the lack of attractive proposals from the candidates and the political parties.
The newspaper goes on to say that the level of abstention this year could be even higher than previous years as when questioned, members of the public say that they do not believe the current government or the opposition’s proposals.
