Old people decide
Dieter Roth—Professor at Heidelberg University and co-founder of one of the leading political polling groups of Germany—noted during his intervention at the Choiceless Project Seminar how astonishing it really is that currently old people can and do decide almost everything, simply because many young people don’t vote or participate.
Professor Dieter Roth | Choiceless Project Seminar
Using the example of the recent elections to the European Parliament, Prof Roth argued that too many politicians were caught in local and national issues, which consequently dominated the public opinion much rather than any of the many European themes.
Political interest has not decreased; the interest in traditional political parties has.
Professor Dieter Roth
The limitation of the political discourse was reflected in most media as well – still devoid of a truly European public space, national media happily picked up on the range of topics evading any of the real discussions around Europe.
Political interest, however, is not the only factor for people not to vote. Satisfaction with democracy is one other strong aspect influential in this regard – as well as protest, which has become an increasingly dominant factor.
(We will introduce the different factors in more detail soon!)