Voter Participation Rates
“A choice that is made by counting the number of people in favor of each alternative.” (vocabulary.com)
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.
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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