VOTER PARTICIPATION

People are fed up with politics, and are voting less and less. That's the reason why the 85% participation rate in Scotland's independence referendum was the highest for 60 years.

However, the above statement is not true everywhere. In Sweden's general election last Sunday, the participation rate was an extraordinary 85.8%. This was a rise of 1.24% on the last vote, in 2010. The rate has in fact risen in every election in Sweden since 2002. There must be something in the water.

Walter Blotscher