..what do you think of vote-selling to highest bidders in an election?

Philippines
May 8, 2010 9:53pm CST
tomorrow is the schedule of the national & local elections in the Philippines.. in the past, there has been rampant vote buying despite the watchful eyes of concerned organizations and citizens..and of course the government..however, i am quite uncomfortable with the recent turn of events..especially in our place..you will hear people who are inquiring as to how much will that party will give in exchange for their votes..as to who has the largest payout..people are auctioning their votes to the highest bidders! asked why they are doing it..aren't they willing to exercise their right to choose their leaders..they nonchalantly answered that it's better to vote for those who are moneyed already..its all the same whoever will take the position, they,simple ordinary citizens wouldn't have a say anyway in the running of the government...i was so sorry to hear that kind of answer from our citizenry..i feel discourage by this turn of events..what will you expect from the election when people doesnt care who is fit to be running but rather, who is more moneyed?..tsk, tsk..i would like to hear your opinion on this, fellow mylotters...
4 responses
@kenites (337)
• Philippines
9 May 10
well this is a sad reality in our country. and our government is not watching and guarding against it, they are even tolerating it. It is like an acceptable tradition during election here in our country. And I even heard a story that some are brining carbon copy paper to verify who they are voting.. I for one is guilty of accepting money from political parties though I will not submit to their will I always choses the candidate I think deserves the position. I know that accepting it will just encourage corruption but then again if I will not accept that money it will just go to somebody else,and I also need some money. The main reason for this is poverty. You can always accept the money due to necessity but it is important to always vote wisely, and a good start is not to vote the candidate who gives you the money and others who do the same.
• Philippines
10 May 10
yeah, i agree with you that poverty brought this on us..the people have no choice but to accept the money, ( if you won't accept the money, your names still get listed and the money will go to the other people's wallets), but as you have said, we should still vote those we think are capable of running our government and not those who gave out the money... however, someone told me that other parties today has devised ways to monitor if you have truly voted for the candidates for which you've received money..this would be much difficult to determine however for those living in cities..but for those who live in towns, this would be easy...and you would be an easy target should they learn that you accepted their money yet voted for another..
@kenites (337)
• Philippines
10 May 10
Really? I think in this days of automation it's next to impossible to determine that one. Today is Election Day. Let us Vote Wisely :)
@bloggeroo (2167)
• Philippines
10 May 10
The electoral process is a zero-sum game where somebody's victory is somebody else's loss. In this game, there is a group of individuals who have no strong political opinion nor interest in the outcome. In ideal conditions (i.e., fair elections), they do not gain anything whoever wins the contest. Who are they? The marginalized or unaffiliated voters. They are those who do not belong to any political party. To condemn vote buying is an incomplete judgment of our political system. Vote buying in some form or another exists in every political system in the world. You just have to recognize how the payoff was made. The vote buying activities we so easily deplore are the ones involving the poor and powerless. And I think it's unfair to impose a moral burden on them and suggest that they are somehow responsible for the state of our society. I disagree with this judgment. The real problem in the Philippine society is our incapability of forming large organizations. This means social capital is low and trust is confined to our immediate families or circle of friends. Social scientist, Francis Fukuyama, studied the societies around the world and offered a good framework to help us understand what makes our own society weak. My contributions to this discussion: (1) Vote-buying is not the main problem. (2) The Philippines is not more corrupt than other societies in the world. (3) The source of our problems is not the self-interest nor weaknesses of our political leaders.
• Philippines
10 May 10
whew! that's an eye opener bloggeroo..that's another side to the matter that i have not really pondered about..that's an additional knowledge for me..maybe other people too should look at the subject in the light of the matter you have stressed,..expound and learn more about vote buying not as the main problem, but as a consequence of the real problem..and to explore the idea that the source of the problem is not the self-interest or weakness of our political leaders..... i don't really believe that philippines is more corrupt than other countries though... well, thanks for sharing this knowlege bloggeroo..
@elmiko (6630)
• United States
9 May 10
first off this is very a corrupted way of doing an election that gives very few people a say on how the outcome will be. i live in the United States and something like this did happen. well it could had happened if the guy wasn't caught. it happened to be a governor of the state of Illinois at the time when they recorded him in secret phone conversations selling the Illinois Senate Seat to the highest bidder. The governor who did that at the time name was Rod Blagojevich. he ended up getting voted out of office after an impeachment trail.
@Keola12 (824)
• United States
9 May 10
I strongly believe that selling votes of any kind is wrong, because by doing so, then it is not a fair election. I believe the citizens of a given country should be able to have an honest say as to who their politicians are going to be elected to a given post of leadership.
• Philippines
10 May 10
i strongly agree with you keola12..that is the dream of the majority of Filipinos who truly feel that they are indeed filipinos and not just renting a parcel of land in this beautiful country of ours..people who believe like we do are the massess, whose voice are rarely heard amidst the commotion of running for public office.. what would an honest candidate do when all the other candidates are doing this? as they might say, "if you can't lick 'em, join them" (lol).. what would an ordinary citizen do who wants to vote for the candidate he believes has the capability to run the government if he/she is pressured to vote for another due to a much higher payout? there is high unemployment rate in the country and the few thousands that a citizen will receive from candidates could help out much in the family's daily needs.. he could still vote for the candidate he wish to elect without being paid but would that ensure that his candidate will win? vote buying is so rampant and so ingrained in the election culture of our country that it would be very difficult to change these ways...it would take much time and effort,,by not a few people..but by all of us concerned..