Universal Suffrage has been the right of every person in the UK over the age of 18 for 45 years. Over the last 15 years, voting numbers in Britain have seen a sharp decline. In 1992, 77.7% of the electorate voted, compared to just 65.1% in 2010, (Commission, 2013). As a result of the First Past the Post (FPTP) voting system it is often the case that a majority of the population do not actually support the Government. Now for the first time, non-voters are the largest single group outnumbering those who supported the winning party and calling in to question the whole election process by their non-participation. 'The nature of the free vote is that, if parties want to win, they must run an election campaign on a message of hope and encouragement' (Herald, 2011). If we implemented compulsory voting, political campaigns would be forced to become more engaging to large proportion of the population that they currently don't represent or associate to. However it is a dereliction of the democratic obligation to simply give up and prosecute the electorate for choosing to abstain. Forcing people to vote is against liberty. Britain is a Liberal Democracy meaning that the government should not compel or force citizens insofar as that is possible "A state which dwarfs its men, in order that they may be more docile instruments in its hands even for beneficial purposes, will find that with small men no great thing can really be accomplished" (Mill, 2009). Certain freedoms should be preserved in a liberal democracy; the right to vote includes the right to say no. Compulsory voting would certainly alleviate many problems within our democracy but others can arise from its implementation, we have to look at why people are not voting. .
When a large proportion of the electorate choose not to express their right to vote, the government is not representative of this group.
