a 'REFORM' in the Democratic Process

Every six years, the Presidential and Vice-Presidential Election is held in the Philippines, as stated in The 1987 Constitution of the Republic of the Philippines. Since the first election under the said constitution, and up until now, criticisms and complains on the elected Head of State are rampant, either by Activists, Common Folks, Economists, Media Practitioners, or Politicians. If the people voted for Ramos, Estrada, Arroyo and Aquino, why are there still numerous rants?

Well, let us have a review. On the 2010 Presidential Election, the winner, Benigno Aquino III got 15,208,678 votes. Second to him is Joseph Estrada with 9,487,837 votes. Third is Manny Villar with 5,573,835. Fourth is Gilbert Teodoro with 4,095,839. If we will add the total votes that Estrada, Villar and Teodoro have, it will be a total of 19,157,511, which is 3,948,833 greater than votes that Aquino gained. Therefore, we could conclude that there are more voters who didn’t like Aquino to be the President, or should I say, preferred Estrada, or Villar or Teodoro.

The current practice in the Philippines, and elsewhere, is that people vote the one who they want to lead them. This is also known as Democracy through Popular Vote. They could choose who they want to be the next president. But, can the voting population choose who SHOULD NOT win?

Maybe it’s time for a paradigm shift in the electoral process in the Philippines. How about instead of choosing the person whom you want to win, why not choose the person you don’t want to win? Selecting who you want to win is easy. But selecting whom you don’t want to win is quite difficult.

For example, the possible presidential candidates are Binay, Duterte, Lacson, Roxas and Poe. I have confidence on Duterte and Poe. I don’t want Binay, Lacson or Roxas to be the next President, however, I can’t decide which among three I dislike the most. Binay isn’t open on discussing the issues around him. Lacson, while being a senator, ran away from his duties. Roxas is too trapo. Whom will I select not to win?

You might ask, “With this paradigm shift, who will then be the next president?” Well, the one with the fewest votes should be declared as president. The person with the most votes will be the ultimate loser, because most of the voters hates him/her.

Though this thought of mine won’t be possible, on my lifetime, I think, it is still worth discussing. First, the campaign strategy will be different. This time, the politician will ask the people to not vote for them. Second, they also need to give reasons why they should vote other candidates to lose. How do you propagate the idea of you not being voted?

What do you think?