Mandatory Active Suffrage and Political Participation in Ecuador

Abstract

Throughout the history of electoral processes, doctrinal positions regarding citizen political participation have maintained successive controversies regarding the compulsory or non-compulsory nature of active suffrage and its role in the outcomes of these processes. These debates have hinged on various factors, such as democratic character, individual rights, and responsibilities, as well as political legitimacy. The objective was to analyze, from a legal perspective, the impact of mandatory active suffrage on citizen participation in the last two electoral processes in Santo Domingo de los Tsáchilas. Using a mixed approach, with qualitative and quantitative tendencies, the application of scientific research methods, such as analytical-synthetic, historical-logical, and document analysis, allowed to achieve the predetermined goal. According to the results, the relevance of compulsory citizen participation in electoral processes was confirmed. It can be concluded that mandatory active suffrage continues to be a real necessity to ensure citizen participation, serving as an indispensable means to certify the democratic legitimacy of the government and its political institutions, governance, the real interaction of society with power, and the transition toward other forms of political participation.