Post from Shirish Paranjape (standing for community board in Riccarton/Wigram)

The joys of democracy

Some weeks back, I decided to contest for the position of a community board member for Riccarton-Wigram ward.

During these past weeks of campaign and community interaction, I have experienced many aspects of our community, our city.

1.  Our local government structure of mayor, councilors, community boards: Many people, particularly those born overseas asked me to explain what a community board is, what it does etc. After listening to me, their unanimous comment was that this structure is such a nice one to have. Let us make this structure work for our communities!

2.   I found that most people were genuinely interested in discussions leading to positive outcomes for the city. The awareness level of local issues is very high, and people liked to discuss issues which affected them and others.

3.   Community support for the process of elections, including candidates’ campaign is very high and positive. House-owners and businesses not only gave permissions for signage, many actually made adjustments to accommodate the same. Businesses engaged in printing brochures, signs etc. supported with quick turn-around times. Media and community groups engaged actively and promoted good discussions.

Personally, I learnt a lot just through this process of campaigning, communicating, meeting people and visiting different parts of our city.

But I also learnt that the voter turnout at local elections is less than ideal, around the 50% mark!

When I first heard this, this was indeed a surprise, as this did not match the active community involvement I had experienced otherwise.

I wondered about the reasons, which perhaps include.

1.    Lack of voter awareness about candidates

2.    Some candidates not forthcoming about providing detailed information about themselves.

3.    The website www.vote.co.nz run by Local Government New Zealand is an excellent resource but very few voters know about it. Perhaps the publicity is not adequate.

I feel that to improve democratic processes, indeed the effectiveness of democracy itself – widespread community participation is vital.

Let us look at countries such as Egypt. Hundred have laid down their lives in an effort to get democracy.

We in New Zealand are much luckier. We do not have to go to such extremes. All we need to do is to participate in the elections in big numbers.

We do not even have to leave the comforts of our homes.

Let us make Christchurch as the city with (near) 100% voter turnout.

Let us do it together. Let us make it 100%.

Shirish