Mr. François Legault, following your victory on the 1er October 2018, the elected representatives of the Coalition Avenir Québec boasted of several qualifiers: the CAQ’s victory was convincing, conclusive, dazzling, decisive, convincing and so on. She was none of those things. It was a victory, but nothing more.
How could it be more when 62.58% of voters voted against the CAQ? Our voting system had given your party a disproportionate number of seats, and you 100% of the power even though your party had only obtained 37.42% of the votes cast.
Faced with such results, how can we be surprised that fewer and fewer citizens are choosing to exercise their right to vote? Can they still believe in representative democracy, can they still think that voting is useful? Are the absent really always wrong?
The debate over reforming our voting system has been going on for decades. How many times have we heard a party leader commit to this reform, and how many times have we been cheated?
1er October 2018, you in turn, Mr. Legault, benefited from our hackneyed voting system. It only remained to wait and see if you were going to renege on your commitment to modify it. Now we have seen. Intoxicated by total power obtained at little cost, you failed to achieve the grandeur required to give their voice to all the voters. You have chosen to make yourself a Justin Trudeau. It’s a shame.
Disgust
Will voters who want changes to the current voting system now find themselves forced to say simply, sorry, until you make these changes, we won’t be voting? Paradoxically, will they no longer have to exercise their right to vote so that it becomes a weapon of change?
For my part, I decided to take this step. I will no longer exercise my right to vote under the current voting system. You bear the responsibility for my decision, Mr. Legault. And make no mistake about it. My choice is not part of the disgust for politics that too many citizens show.
I understand the point of view that voting is pointless, but I do not share it. I leave this reasoning to anarchist thought. It is precisely because I believe in the usefulness of the vote that I will henceforth refuse to deny the value of mine. It is the deception that we have once again been victims of that disgusts me.
Whether our political system is truly democratic can be debated endlessly, especially in view of the increasingly sidelined legislative branch and the concentration of power in the hands of the executive. . But is this not just a more than convincing reason why citizens must be able to decide the extent of the powers of the possible Prime Minister?
In our system, the Prime Minister is virtually omnipotent. The grievances about the concentration of power in his hands are countless. The current voting system, however, ensures that two-thirds of citizens do not have a say in the extent of the powers they hold. Do you sincerely believe, Mr. Legault, that this is acceptable?
The electoral system must allow fair representation, in the National Assembly, of the parties which elect deputies. In addition, and this is fundamental, he must prevent a prime minister, whatever share of the popular vote he obtains, from monopolizing 100% of power. Because it is this aberration that came out of the polls on the 1ster October 2018.
Mr. Legault, you have succumbed to the same thirst for power as all your predecessors. Know that whatever the outcome of the election on October 3, 2022, he will not grow you, because deception does not grow anyone.