I Refuse To Cast My Vote

I come from India, the largest democracy in the world, and I live in South Africa, one of the newest democracies and it so happens that it is election year in both these countries. Election years bring out all the cruelty and ugliness of the ‘elected’ or those who ‘wish to be elected’ and this is the biggest common factor in both these countries.

In India, my home state, Andhra Pradesh, is being bifurcated. Economic development is being sacrificed for vote bank politics. What will a political party, which only wants to stay in power and is headed by a non-Indian woman, know about this region and that their disastrous decision will only work towards the downhill growth of the new state? No, they know nothing and they really do not care.

In South Africa, politics is still very race based. The President blamed Apartheid for the country’s slow growth in his State of the Nation address. Politicians are busy playing dirty to a level that they criticize the clothes their competitors wear. Blame game comes down to a very personal level here.

Election years in democracies today seem to bring out the worst in already corrupted politicians. An election year is supposed to be a year of propagation and awareness, or so I believe how it traditionally is supposed to be. Depravity and corruption just seem to rise to their highest during an election year and only gets worse with every succeeding election year.

This election year is disgusting enough for me to decide that nobody deserves my precious vote. How is this serving the people or even make them want to vote? People cannot be blamed for a low voter turnout if they are given no choice but to vote for politicians who will only ruin an individual’s personal growth prospects. 

It is a saving grace that people still have some kind of faith in democracy and this is the only reason why politicians are able to get away even after being caught red handed. I was eager to cast my vote but now I really do not care. Thank you, politicians for taking away my desire of participating in a democracy. Publishing my opinions now seems to be the only way of participating.