September 24 is #btw17, i.e. Bundestag elections. There are just four weeks left before you and I decide on the political future of Germany.
Until then, we – the AStA of Osnabrück University of Applied Sciences – want to show you at regular intervals why voting is important, how the Bundestag election and the electoral system work and also how you can prepare for it.
Today we want to start with the importance of elections.
Why vote? – Elections as a cornerstone of democracy
Through elections, the people become sovereign. It legitimizes those in power to do what they think is right. That is democracy. The people elect representatives who are supposed to represent their own opinions and interests. And if the people or the majority of the people want something else, this has the possibility to re-elect the rulers or not to re-elect them. Because no one automatically governs permanently. At least not in a truly democratic system.
So each of us should be happy that our own voice carries weight and that we can have a say in decision-making. Despite a process that takes only a few seconds – ticking the ballot paper – this decision has long-term consequences. In the Bundestag election, it is four years. And contrary to the frequent statement that elections are useless anyway, voter turnout does have an impact on the distribution of political power. In the form of parliamentary seats, which in turn determine what is the government, what is the opposition and what is the programme for the coming years.
Voting should never be accompanied by the word “must”, but with “may”. The number of countries in which the heads of state and government are trying to tear down democratic structures with the help of “reforms” or in which elections do not even take place is increasing every day – at least it feels like it.
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Image: (c) German Bundestag / Julia Nowak-Katz