​Voter Participation Rates
“A choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative.” (vocabulary.com)
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Voting for the election of the President of Colombia for the 2014-2018 period took place on the 25th of May. The total amount of people able to vote was 32,975,158, of which only 13,216,402, being 40.7% of the population, exercised their right to vote. The percentage of abstention was 59.3%, this being the highest percentage of abstention of any presidential election since the year 1998.
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As for the results of this election, the winner of the first round went to candidate Oscar Ivan Zuluaga, with a percentage of 29.5% (3,759,971 votes); candidate/president Juan Manuel Santos occupied second place with 25.69% (3,301,815 votes), Martha Lucia Ramirez in third place with 15.52% (1,995,698 votes); fourth place, Clara Lopez with 15.23% (1,958,414 votes) and Enrique Peñalosa in fifth place with 8.28% (1,065,142 votes). For its part, the “blank vote” reached 5.99% (770,610 votes).
A few reasons why colombians do not vote are: corruption, distrust in government and distrust in candidates.
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