Language

Context Is Everything

Submitted January 20, 2005 - 12:51 pm by Jennifer Whitney
Thanks for your comments Ben. It's true that when taken out of context and put side by side, calling 35 percent abstention low and 40 percent abstention high, in Venezuela and Bolivia, respectively, the figures might seem strange and contradictory.

However, context is everything. Here's why:

In Bolivia, Latin America's poorest country, voting is mandatory, and there is a significant financial penalty for abstaining. If one does not pay the fine, one cannot do any "tramites," that is to say, any financial or business transactions. So the fact that so many people chose to bear that burden carries a lot of weight.

In Venezuela, voting is not mandatory. So in the recall referendum, 65 percent of the electorate freely chose to go stand on line for up to 10 hours to vote. Compare this to the 45 percent voter turnout rate in October's municipal elections, and things look a little different.

And for the record, my figures come from what was released by the National Electoral Councils of each country at the time of the elections. If there is more accurate data available, I'd be happy to see it.

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