Trust that doesn’t need to be proven, and democracy that works without noise. While elections in many countries become a test, in Denmark they are simply part of everyday life. A personal perspective from within a system people truly believe in.
A personal reflection on trust that shapes society
Author: Alla Kuchans, mentor and civic activist in Denmark
Today is election day in Denmark.
I am not voting.
Not because I don’t want to,
but because I don’t have the right to.
And perhaps that is exactly why I see more.
I watch people calmly heading to polling stations. No tension. No anxiety. No feeling that their vote might be “stolen” or that the outcome has already been decided. Here, elections are not something that divides people. They are part of everyday life.
In Denmark, all citizens aged 18 and over can vote. Elections do not have a fixed date—the Prime Minister can call them at any time, though at least once every four years. The parliament, the Folketing, consists of 179 members, and the electoral system is proportional: parties receive seats according to the percentage of votes they gain.
These may sound like dry facts.
But behind them lies something much greater.
Trust.
It is trust that explains why voter turnout in Denmark often exceeds 80%. People vote not because they “have to,” but because they believe their voice matters. And that the system works fairly.
And I feel this trust even without the right to vote.
It is a unique feeling—to be close to a process that shapes the country’s future, while not having the ability to influence it directly. Yet at the same time, to feel respect for this process. To feel its transparency, fairness, and calm.
Perhaps democracy does not begin with a ballot.
But with trust between people and the state.
Sometimes, to understand the value of the right to vote, it is enough to not have it—if only for a day.
Today, I do not vote.
But I see what democracy looks like when it is trusted.
And that is one of the most powerful experiences one can have.
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Photo: from the archive of Alla Kuchans