Low voter turnout ‘indication of declining trust in democracy’
The low voter turnout has been one of the stories of this year’s local government elections, with the number of voters dropping to its lowest levels since the dawn of democracy.
Analysts have given a number of reasons for the poor show, and now the Human Research Council (HSRC) has also added its voice to the debate.
It believes the one of the reasons could be a lack of trust in the South African democratic process.
The HSRC released the results of its election satisfaction survey on Wednesday.
"Some of our other research is pointing to a very disturbing decline in trust in democracy in South Africa, and of course democracy isn't only about voting, it's about public participation. But this is the reality, and this could be one of the reasons we have a low turnout of voters," said Professor Narnia Bohler-Muller.
Bohler-Muller added that most voters who did go to the polls were fully vaccinated, and a lack of vaccination is also a factor that could have triggered people not to show up at the polls.
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