As we know, local elections were held on Sunday, October 25. The Central Election Commission announced the voter turnout — at the end of voting, it was 36,88%. This is much less than in the previous local elections in 2016.
- For us, the low turnout in these elections was not a surprise. If we trace the previous history, we see that the turnout decreases year by year. And this is a global trend, it is not a peculiarity of Odessa, not a peculiarity of Ukraine. Today, there is growing distrust in the representative system, in elections, as one of the mechanisms of democracy. And therefore, the low turnout around the world is a confirmation of that, - sociologist Elena Knyazeva comments on the situation, - My colleagues from other countries say that they have been noticing this trend for a long time. When conducting pre-election polls, we ask the question: "Would you participate if the elections were held next Sunday?" So the position "yes, I will definitely take part" has long been divided in half. And this indicates that this is already a trend.
By the way, in Odessa, the turnout for the elections was 29,82%. This is almost 10% lower than in the last local elections in 2015, when it was 38,06%.
- If you want to focus on Odessa, we conducted a survey 10 days before the elections, and the percentage of Odessans surveyed who said "yes, we will definitely come to the elections" was 58%. If we follow the method and divide this amount in half, we get to this 29%, says Elena
In turn, if we talk about the region as a whole, the percentage is slightly higher — 35,34%. But this is still lower than in the 2015 elections, when the turnout was 41,35%. What is the reason for the decrease in the number of voters?
According to sociologist Elena Knyazeva, this was influenced by two factors:
- The first factor that affects the turnout is distrust of the electoral system, representative democracy, as such. And if you take into account that these elections were held according to new rules, on the basis of the new electoral code, this system was very complicated. Moreover, even the experts themselves were literally confused in the mechanisms of holding elections until the last moment, which already speaks for ordinary citizens. The second factor: for many it was a revelation when they came to the polling stations and received 4 ballots instead of one. We recorded the same surprise and bewilderment during the polls when the question was "Whom will you vote for?" for the district council. Many people just heard for the first time that we will elect deputies to the district council.
