Can Citizenship Education help to curb this alarming issue?
Election Turnout by Percentage: 1962-2016
Some
facts on Jamaica’s voting trends:
1. The
highest percentage of electorate turnout was in 1980, 86.1%
2. The
largest number of votes cast was in 2011, when 876,310 voters turned out to the
polls
3. In
that year, the electorate had grown to 1,648,036 persons. This means that
although 2011 marked the highest number of persons casting votes at the
poll, only 53.17% of those eligible to vote did so.
4. The
electorate has grown from 796,540 eligible voters in 1962 to 1,824,410 in 2016
5. Since
1993, the percentage of eligible voters casting ballots has declined at each
election, except in 2007, when there was a marginal increase
6. At
47.72%, the election in 2016 recorded the lowest percentage voter turnout in
Jamaica’s history since Independence, with the exception of the 1983 election
that was boycotted by the PNP. 870,663 persons voted in this election.
Contributor:
Shanya Moore
4th Year History and Social
Studies Student
Bethlehem Moravian College
Yes it is because individuals are not educated sufficiently on the process of voting. I think when the citizens are educated enough on their democratic right they will understand the process much better.
ReplyDeleteMaybe it is based on poor citizenship education but as I said in previous blogs there are other factors such as personal disinterest, fear due to intimidation from other parties,or lack of hope for the country's development among other things. We can therefore say it is a factor but unless we have a research we cannot say it is poor citizenship education.
ReplyDeleteI beg to differ some persons just are not comfortable with the Jamaica government sysytem as they belive that they are all corrupt.
ReplyDeleteThey are a number of factors including the absence of citizenship education, disinterest in the political system of the country and the lack of hope as what Mrs. Beason stated. Not only the absence of citizenship education.
ReplyDelete