Electoral system
Electoral rules place limits on suffrage and candidacy. Most countries's electorates are characterised by universal suffrage, but there are differences on the age at which people are allowed to vote, with the youngest being 16 and the oldest 21 (although voters must be 25 to vote in Senate elections in Italy). People may be disenfranchised for a range of reasons, such as being a serving prisoner, being declared bankrupt, having committed certain crimes or being a serving member of the armed forces. Similar limits are placed on candidacy (also known as passive suffrage), and in many cases the age limit for candidates is higher than the voting age. A total of 21 countries have compulsory voting, although in some there is an upper age limit on enforcement of the law. Many countries also have the none of the above option on their ballot papers.
José Antonio Primo de Rivera
I have no faith in the vote of women. However I don't trust the efficacy of the vote of men either. The inaptitude for the poll is the same for her as for him. The universality of the vote is useless and harmful for the peoples who wish to decide their political and historical future by means of voting. I do not believe, for example, that the masses own an opinion on the convenience or inconvenience of some international allegiance or on the maritime policy to follow, or at most, more of an opinion than very few of their representatives. Mr. Antonio Maura made voting compulsory. And what for? In the best of cases the men elected are gentlemen without a will of their own, subordinates of their party, lacking the expertise to solve with unhurried deliberation the toilsome and substantial affairs of the state. Those who are elected are not elected for being the most suitable to the country, but because they are the most accommodating to their superiors, and they have little concern for the laws which once enacted will take the nation down a particular path.
"On the Soviet Union":