Expert: 'Weaker voters abstain, so democracy becomes unequal'

In addition to quantity, please also examine the quality of non-voting. Which phenomenon does it tell?

Abstentionism does not affect all social groups equally. Voters who are socially more central - i.e. those who have high educational qualifications, are in an intermediate age group, have a good job, etc. - vote more often than others. - they vote more often than others. If certain social groups vote poorly, the political class will have no interest in wooing or pandering to them. Consequently, public policies will be oriented towards those who vote, rather than those who do not vote. Therefore, like a self-fulfilling prophecy, abstentionists will have further reason to believe that politics does not care about them. Democracy thus becomes increasingly unequal. From this point of view, perhaps somewhat provocatively, one could say that it is preferable to have 30 per cent of participants well distributed among the social strata than 60 per cent from which the weakest voters are left out.

A piece of advice to the parties: can it be fixed? And how?

Avoid devising simple and ingenious solutions to complex and deep-rooted problems. In recent days we have read about electronic voting, postal voting, delegated voting, early voting, election day and much more. Apart from the difficulties of making these methods compatible with our Constitution, international studies tell us that these remedies are of little use. They are, moreover, measures aimed at making it easier for those who already intend to vote to do so. They do not affect, except marginally, those who decide not to vote. Those who do not like soup need not be served it in a porcelain dish instead of plastic. He won't eat it anyway. To make them like it, one would have to insist on taste education, the importance of proper nutrition, etc. Out of metaphor, only the conviction that everyone's participation is useful and necessary for the proper functioning of democracy will save us from the abstentionist drift. These things are learned early in life. In the family, at school, in associations, in parties, from politicians who set a good example. This then is where to start again: from good example.