If most candidates are corrupt and dishonest, who do I vote for?
NEW YORK: This is with reference to Dr Saira Yamin’s article “The case for compulsory voting” (July 24). There is no doubt that people need to exercise their right to vote, but only if the candidates that they are to elect are clean and honest. Now, that is a tall order in asking. If most candidates are corrupt and dishonest, who do I vote for?
Also, there is no right to recall/reject a vote and this creates all the more trouble. The situation then is that I have to vote irrespective of who the candidate is but have no right to recall/reject. Imagine a situation where there are five candidates of five different parties in my constituency and four of them are corrupt. So, I vote for the candidate who is honest. If the same party’s candidates in other areas are corrupt and some other party’s candidate is honest, a voter there would vote for that honest person. On a large scale, this translates into the votes getting divided haphazardly, with no clear winner. This would undoubtedly encourage corruption even more, with politicians buying candidates. Is this the system that is needed? It’s like asking one to choose between the devil and the deep sea, and I’m better off with the devil right now.
David Webb
Published in The Express Tribune, July 25th, 2012.
