Democracy is considered to be a government “by the people and for the people. ” One important facets of this kind of government is its electoral system. Election or suffrage is the main means by which the people could be able to select the individuals who would represent them in office.
These officials are the representatives of the people that have the main responsibility to voice out their needs and interests. The government also has the duty of consolidating these various interests so that it could make decisions that is good for the majority of the people (U. S. Department of State, n.
d. ).As such, the public’s representation in the government is very essential because they will make sure that the rights of these people as well as the public good is uphold. However, there are instances wherein equal representation becomes the main problem in a democratic government.
The principle of democracy allows political freedom that paved the way for the establishment of different political parties (U. S. Department of State, n. d. ). These parties have different and often time conflicting ideologies that tend to focus on a particular interest and perspective of people.
In line with this, also comes the occurrence of party politics. Some political parties tend to hold the majority seat in the government because they have the power of number. In this case, some parties are under-represented because they only hold minority seats in the government. This kind of situation often becomes the reason as to why some or most members of the public are not properly represented. Only those people who are represented by the majority party in the government have the bigger chance of getting their needs addressed.Being the case, the very principle of democracy is defeated because it is no longer the government that is for the people.
This kind of situation is observable in the democratic government of France. Some citizens in the country are not properly represented because of the dominion of certain political party. The history of the country had shown that for many years after its liberation the French Communist Party still persists as the strongest party in the French politics. Its influence is capable of acquiring a quarter of the public’s votes and has ties with numerous “militants” than all the other French parties combined together.Majority of French citizens who belonged to the industrial workers of country still continue to vote for the political party that represents the working class even if they are hesitant to stand on its behalf. This continued strength is confusing and disturbing.
Nevertheless, this situation shows the main cause of democratic weakness in France. It also poses a threat to the effectiveness of Western coalition. The continued dominion of Communism in the French government has no simple explanation due to the fact that it is both the reason and consequence of other crisis in the French society (Micaud, 1955).The strength of the French Communist Party is often the basis of the weakness of its rival, the Socialist party. The political arena tends to be too small for these two conflicting parties and only one of them should reign supreme over the other. The power of the Communist Party in France is different as compared with other countries in Western Europe because the Communist party won over the French working class, which they failed to do elsewhere (Micaud, 1955).
The Communist success in the country is largely due to the weaknesses within the Socialist party.Some of the Socialist party’s shortcomings are evident in its divided leadership, rigid perspectives, and changing strategy. External circumstances also worsen the internal weakness of the Socialist party that is responsible for its failure (Micaud, 1955). Social Democracy could have been influential in France and could be an alternative to Communism if only the Socialist Party has addressed its shortcomings. At present, there is still a problem in the political party and electoral system of France.
There is a growing political dissatisfaction as well as widening mass disjuncture in the country. This is proven by opinion polls, electoral volatility and fragmentation, rising number of abstentions, and voting against incumbent politicians. The electoral system has preserved the existence of various coalitions but they have loss in public confidence and more voters are already changing loyalties by swinging their votes. This situation signal an attitudinal and systematic weaknesses in the electoral system.These also pose serious problems in the political representation in contemporary France and most crucially it signals a crisis of democracy (Shields, 2005).
However, this crisis also paved the way for the French citizens to think of ways and make the necessary action in order to enhance the democracy of their country. The growing dissatisfaction of the people for mainstream political parties has given the chance for the proliferation of alternative parties as well as pressure groups that are focused in actively campaigning for specific issues and matters.The existence of this kind of parties allows the destabilization of the traditional politics that is exists in the country for many years (Shields, 2005). In order to enhance the democracy of the country, French citizens should actively take part in the election and practice their right of suffrage. By doing so, they could be able to support the political party that will represent their needs and interests.
They should forego of the traditional politics that characterizes French politics especially since the majority party that is leading the government only represent a limited number of the public.The public should make sure that they each one of them is equally and well-represented in the government because their proper representation will aide in making the principle of democracy realized. People should practice their right to suffrage. Being apathetic about it will not solve their discontent towards the government and the political system. They should not result to abstention during elections but rather they should actively participate more because only through everybody’s willingness and desire for change could democracy be enhanced and uphold.
