La Importancia del Voto Obligatorio para la Democracia en Colombia

Abstract

The paper asks about the importance, necessity and relevance of compulsory voting in Colombia and the impact that electoral abstentionism has on the Colombian democratic system. Therefore, the objective of this work is to investigate the reasons that have been considered in the Congress of the Republic when presenting the draft legislative acts regarding the implementation of mandatory voting for democracy in Colombia. In this sense, the research methodology used was qualitative and documentary, which consisted in carrying out a review of the existing bibliography and the analysis of eleven projects of Legislative Act presented in the Congress of the Republic during the period between the years 2006 to 2022, which made it possible to demonstrate in the documentary sources the theoretical and legislative supports that support the approaches made. Which allowed us to understand the impact that electoral abstentionism has on the Colombian democratic system and its reiteration in the electoral processes. Which makes it the main reason for argumentation for the legislative act project initiatives that seek the implementation of compulsory voting in Colombia. In this sense, it can be said that, although compulsory voting is the tool to deal with abstentionism, by itself it could not guarantee an improvement in the quality of democracy, unless a structural reform is made to the Colombian electoral system, which include not only the implementation of compulsory voting, but also the strengthening of the citizen's electoral culture, the strengthening of institutions and the implementation of electronic voting.