IS VOTER APATHY THE DEATH OF DEMOCRACY? HAVE WE TAKEN THE VOTE FOR GRANTED?
BY Richard Talog Jones
28 April 2026
OUR HISTORICAL PATH TO DEMOCRACY
Next week elections take place for the Senedd and opinions on what our future should look like has been viewed as divisive by some. Sadly, reports in the media and political parties suggest that voters have become more disengaged and are wondering what point there is to the democratic process.
Over the last decade or so, voter turnout, that is the number of people who can vote, has been around some 60% for Parliament, 45% for the Senedd and some 35% for local elections. And those have been considered a good turnout recently. But is democracy working when only between 3 to 6 people out of 10 eligible voters actually go out and vote?
We know that democracy relies on active participation, and voting on the issues is crucial for our future. It relies on an informed public and trust in institutions. When many social media accounts actively advocates that democracy is pointless and that state strength comes from charismatic leaders, we need to question whether this stance is right. We also need the ability to challenge those who parrot these views, in my view if nothing else than due to the lengths humanity has taken to ensure that we all can vote. Misinformation can lead to voters unable to distinguish fact versus fiction and it becomes harder to make informed choices. While misinformation has always been a tool, its widespread use reaching particular audiences accurately is more widespread than ever.
In the Star Wars film Revenge of the Sith the character Senator Padme Amidala states “so this is how liberty dies… with thunderous applause” as fellow senators surrender their freedom and democracy to a dictator under the guise of a Galactic emergency. This is purely fiction, but the 20th century saw a few times where this was fact with devastating consequences and creator and director George Lucas took inspiration from history, modern as well as ancient.
Have we taken the vote for granted? How did democracy develop, how did it come about? Should we simply let it “die”? Do we owe it to our forefathers to exercise our right to vote, regardless of whether we disagree with all the views of our party or candidate of choice?
When did democracy start?
In the ancient world several societies experimented with democratic systems, a system that allowed its citizens to participate in governance. The most well known of these is ancient Greece in the 5th century BCE. We get the word “democracy” from this period as the Greek word demokratia combines demos, common people, and kratos, rule force or might, literally translating into “people power”. Anyone else thinking of the actor Robert Lindsey as Citizen Smith with the line “power to the people”?Greece created a form of direct democracy where free male citizens could gather in assemblies to debate and vote on laws and policies. This system was groundbreaking because it shifted political power away from monarchs and aristocrats toward a broader segment of the population. And I am sure the diligent readers amongst you would realise this excludes women, but it would also exclude slaves and anyone deemed a “foreigner”.
The development of Athenian democracy was not overnight, and it was influenced by earlier political reforms. Solon (c 594 BCE) was an early Chief Magistrate that prevented a civil war by outlawing debt slavery and divided up political influence and power based on wealth rather than birth. He expanded this to the wider citizenship by allowing the poorest classes to vote in the assembly.
Nearly a century later and widely regarded as the “father of Athenian democracy “was Cleisthenes (c 508 BCE) who built on these foundations and broke the power of the traditional aristocratic families by reorganizing citizens into ten new tribes based on geography rather than the previous four based on family, or noble birth. The ‘ten tribes’ would form the head of over 100 deme (place of residence), each deme organised into three groups called trittyes (thirds) with ten demes divided among three regions in each trittyes.
Cleisthenes established this system in order to ensure that there was balance against potential tyranny, where this was usually centralised around a single person with authoritarian control. This system offered the sense of belonging to the country, rather than belonging to a particular tribe through birthright. This was the foundation to the institution of the Assembly and the Council of 500.
I am sure there is a future WEA Llanelli talk here on Athenian democracy or to Solon and Cleisthenes in its own right!
But what about modern democracy?
Political revolutions, intellectual movements, and institutional reforms between the 17th and 19th centuries truly shaped modern democracy. Americans tend to allude to the Magna Carta of the 11th century as the birth of democracy, but to my eyes this was about power at the very top, but no doubt had some influence over time as its immediate effect was a complete failure.
The laws of Hywel Dda (as they were written down by his court) are also omitted from this article, even though there are elements of fairness within these and shared amongst Celtic nations such as Brehon Law in Ireland, and those in Strathclyde.
The Civil War of 1642 – 1651 (if you remember you school classes, the one with Oliver Cromwell and saw King Charles I head shopped off) was a war between Parliament and the monarchy. This was to ensure that Parliament had supremacy over “divine right”. The following Glorious Revolution 1688 - 1689 which cemented parliamentary supremacy over the monarchy and reinforced the idea that rulers must govern with the consent of the people. This shift laid the groundwork for constitutional government and influenced democratic thought across the Atlantic.
The Civil War of 1642 – 1651 (if you remember you school classes, the one with Oliver Cromwell and saw King Charles I head shopped off) was a war between Parliament and the monarchy. This was to ensure that Parliament had supremacy over “divine right”. The following Glorious Revolution (1688 – 1689) which cemented parliamentary supremacy over the monarchy and reinforced the idea that rulers must govern with the consent of the people. This shift laid the groundwork for constitutional government and influenced democratic thought across the Atlantic.
In America, democratic ideals took form during the American Revolution. Colonists, inspired by Enlightenment thinkers like John Locke (1632 – 1704), rejected British rule and founded a republic based on popular sovereignty, individual rights, and elected representation. The U.S. Constitution institutionalized these principles, though again voting was initially limited.
Similarly, the French Revolution marked a turning point in Europe. It overthrew absolute monarchy and introduced the concept of citizenship and equality before the law. Despite periods of instability, it spread democratic ideals across the continent.
But where are ordinary voters in this picture?
Even though Henry VIII formally annexed Cymru and granted Welsh counties representation in the English Parliament through the Laws in Wales Acts 1535 and 1542 (alongside abolishing Welsh laws and establishing English as the sole language of administration and law - although the last one was recorded in Carmarthenshire in 1540 - and that no person using the Welsh language could hold public office or receive government fees), those able to vote for representatives was extremely limited and, generally, restricted to male property owners, reflecting a broader system in which political participation was tied to land and wealth. This continued for some time, even through the Civil War and Glorious Revolution.
It is sad that these wars were fought primarily by, what we would now call, working class people, fighting for the rights of the gentry and would see little direct benefit to those who did most of the fighting.
A major turning point came with the Reform Act 1832, which redistributed parliamentary seats and expanded the electorate to include more middle-class men. Although still limited, it marked the beginning of a gradual shift toward broader participation.
During the 1840’s, the Chartist movement was a mass campaign for political reform driven by working-class people. It took its name from the People’s Charter, which demanded six key changes: universal male suffrage, secret ballots, no property qualification for MPs, payment for MPs, equal electoral districts, and annual Parliaments.
The most dramatic episode was the Newport Rising in November 1839 (no not in Pembs or Isle of Wight, the other one). Led by figures such as John Frost (1784 – 1877), thousands of Chartists marched on Newport, intending to free imprisoned comrades and assert their demands. The confrontation with troops at the Westgate Hotel turned violent, resulting in over 20 deaths. It remains the largest armed rebellion in 19th-century Britain.
Chartism failed in the short term but, as seen throughout history, changes were made incrementally and resulted in reforms in 1867 and 1884, which extended voting rights to many urban and rural working-class men. It still meant that 40% of men and all women were unable to vote. In Cymru, Chartism left a particularly strong legacy of radical political identity in Welsh working-class communities.
As a result, the question of women’s suffrage became increasingly prominent in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Activists campaigned for equal voting rights, forming organizations such as the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies and the more militant Women's Social and Political Union.
The Representation of the People Act 1918 granted voting rights to women over 30 who met property qualifications, as well as extending the vote to nearly all adult men. A decade later, the Representation of the People Act 1928 finally established equal voting rights for men and women over the age of 21.
Where are we now?
It has not yet been a 100 years since all men and all women have been able to vote in the UK. It was only in 1969 that this was reduced to 18 and more recently only in 2019 (yes, I now think in “Pre Covid” terms too!) it was reduced to 16. The UK Parliament is yet to align this with Parliamentary voting.
Devolution too is relatively new, giving powers to the Welsh Assembly in 1999, then Welsh Parliament on a few but important areas allowing localised decisions on local matters. Democracy is therefore ever changing.
But with its ability to change, it is one of the most important tools we have as individuals and society to protect democracy. We may take it for granted, but the path has been long and many people had died for - it is a journey of over 2,500 years.
By casting a vote, individuals help shape government policies, hold leaders accountable, and ensure their voices are heard. Is a “good turnout” of 45% worth the sacrifice of those that came before us?
Does denigrating democracy ensure that the voices of the few claim to be the majority and give false legitimacy to fringe ideology? Is that the point in time where democracy dies? Or maybe with rapturous clapping and cheers as seen in the Star Wars film?
I would argue that it is our duty to vote, regardless of who we vote for as it’s the only way to strengthen the legitimacy of democracy, encourages public engagement and makes our democratic institutions more resilient.
COMMENTS
Comments to be published here are welcomed, write to us at members@weallanelli.org
