EL DESEMPEÑO DE LA DEMOCRACIA REPRESENTATIVA Y PARTICIPATIVA EN LOS MODELOS DE VOTO OBLIGATORIO Y FACULTATIVO.

Abstract

The research focused on analyzing the correlation between democratic participation and democratic representation, investigating whether the implementation of mandatory voting truly achieves effective democratic representation. Determining factors of voting behavior in both optional and mandatory systems were examined, revealing differences among voters in each system. Doctrines and jurisdictional positions were taken into consideration, providing criteria in favor of both systems. To understand whether mandatory voting fulfills its constitutional purpose of shaping a representative democracy through enforced democratic participation by the state, it was deemed necessary to evaluate the very concept of democracy, its objectives, and purposes. This involved assessing citizens' perceptions of the power their vote holds, especially among the Ecuadorian population. To achieve this, the electoral systems of various countries were analyzed, enabling the measurement of levels of representative and participatory democracy. The description of the characteristics of these voting modalities was essential for the establishment of guidelines in which the researcher highlighted a scientific relevance that is recommended for the development of future lines of research adapted to the discovery of perspectives that deal with democracy in voting. universal. It was concluded that, although mandatory voting is a mechanism of the states to ensure citizen participation in political elections, it is not an indication of satisfaction in terms of representation.