How can a government claim to have a mandate if voting is not mandatory?

Question

Doesn't that just suggest a government forms its opinion solely on the fact that people with different opinions just couldn't be stuffed voting

Answer 1

This is a cool question, not sure there can be an answer.It emphasises why democracy is not the perfect form of government, but perhaps the the least imperfect.

In theory the electioneers extrapolate from the distribution of votes that are cast, and assume that those uncast votes are similarly apportioned. In other words, if 50% of the population vote and 80% of them vote to wear pink every day, the government assumes that the non-voters think the same as the voters on the subject, and that 80% of them want to wear pink too.  It then follows that 80% of the total population want to wear pink and thus the government feel they have a mandate to enforce nationwide rosiness.

The problem is that an assumption is made here, the assumption that non-voters would feel the same as voters. This may often be true, whether or not someone votes may have no bearing on their preference for pink. However, it may not be, and the voters may not be representative of the non-voters views. For example, if there was a vote on whether voting was unethical, all the votes would say yes, as those who thought voting unethical would not have voted! The ballot box might show that 20% of the population voted, and all of them (100%) voted to say voting is ethical. Of course this does not mean that 100% of the total population believe this. In this case the voting sample is unrepresentative.

In reality therefore, we give the government a mandate of sorts, an assumed mandate, because they assume the voters represent non-voters. And to be fair, what else can they do? they have no way of knowing teh views, and thus following the instructions of constituents who did not vote.

The inevitable conclusion is that they have the mandate because voters give it to them and non-voters don't take it away. If you have an opinion, vote!  

Answer 2

Mandate is essential