Faulty democracy

On Sunday, June 10, Belgians will go to the polls to elect a new Chamber of Representatives, while top politicians from three parties have waged a campaign to become the next prime minister.

So-called representative democracy as we know it is fatally flawed. I cannot speak for other voters, but nobody can represent my views in parliament. It is impossible, because nobody will have exactly the same views as I have. So you have to make choices as to which topics are more or less important and then chose somebody who has more or less the same opinion on the more important ones. Moreover, if I chose a representative, I should be able to meet him or her and try to influence his or her viewpoints. How many voters have the opportunity to do this?

Several websites offered voting tests to help voters determine for which party to vote. Those tests are equally flawed. (Doe de stemtest, Kieskompas) Most parties don't care about international issues, so no questions on those topics are included. Some tests only include the big parties, which is unfair to the smaller parties. Those tests only steer voters to the big parties.

The means to realize a better form of democracy do exist. Get away with the “representatives” and let voters decide on each and every issue. You could put a question online every day and invite voters to cast their votes. Then let independent administrators implement the outcome. You could put articles online with different points of view and even hold TV debates to help the voters determine their point of view.

Anyway, today I went to the Belgian embassy to vote the old-fashioned way, with a paper ballot and a red pencil. (Belgians outside the E.U. vote on June 8, so their ballots can be taken to Brussels in time for counting on June 10) The voting “booth” must have been one of the most luxurious anywhere. The ambassador had set aside the main room of the embassy, putting a table and a chair in the middle, so voters could even sit down to cast their vote, a luxury our compatriots in Belgium don't have.

Apart from that, it was still old fashioned. A Dutch colleague cast his vote electronically through the internet in his country's elections from the unlikely and dangerous location of Baghdad's Green Zone.