It's the Voter, Stupid

It's the Voter, Stupid

13 November 2026

On 9 November, I gave a twenty-minute presentation for the Chair of Kingdom Relations on Democratic Representation in the Kingdom. My assignment was to place democracy in Curaçao in a historical perspective.

I did not find it particularly exciting or important enough to write a blog about it.

But over the past two days, I came across statistics on the educational attainment of Curaçao's population once again. In other words: the voters.

It reminded me of a question from the audience during my presentation: what should we do to protect and strengthen our democracy?

My answer was: we need to better educate our voters, because they are the ones who choose. And we must ensure that political parties put better candidates on their lists.

But when you look again at the figures on educational attainment, you see that a large proportion of the population has a relatively low level of formal education.

According to the CBS Social Survey 2025, the highest completed levels of education among Curaçao's population aged 15 and older are distributed as follows:

Highest completed education level Percentage

No education 3.1%

Primary education (FO) 19.1%

Lower vocational education (LBO) 18.1%

MBO/SBO levels 2, 3 and 4 16.3%

MAVO, VMBO, VSBO, G.E.D. 15.4%

HAVO/VWO 5.1%

MBO/SBO level 1 2.7%

HBO/University bachelor's degree 11.9%

HBO/University master's degree 6.1%

PhD 0.1%

Other 2.1%

Total 100.0%

Source: Central Bureau of Statistics Curaçao, Enkuesta Sosial 2025. The figures refer to the population aged 15 and older, including those still in education.

These figures mean that approximately 82 percent of the population has not completed higher education. Of course, this does not mean that these people are incapable of making sensible political choices. Nor does higher education guarantee critical thinking. Moreover, these figures concern the population aged 15 and older, not exclusively eligible voters.

But they do raise the question of whether voters are sufficiently equipped to critically examine election manifestos and cast their votes on that basis.

Perhaps we spend too much time scientifically analyzing party manifestos and too little time on the political education of voters. At the same time, political parties must take responsibility by selecting better candidates.

After all, it is the voters who ultimately decide who gets power.

What is the point of scientifically analyzing election manifestos if we do not invest sufficiently in voters' ability to critically assess political promises?

Democracy does not begin at the ballot box, but with the education of the voter.

It's the voter, stupid.

Miguel Goede