On July 30, the Australian Election Commission (AEC) said that more than 200,000 citizens of this country were fined for not participating in the 2025 general election, according to mandatory voting regulations.
According to Xinhua news agency, the AEC has sent about 1.3 million notices to those who did not fulfill their voting obligations in the 2025 general election.
Among these, 207,000 people have paid administrative fines of 20 AUD (about 13.9 USD) as of May. The total fine amount collected is about 4.14 million AUD (equivalent to 2.9 million USD).
In addition, about 250,000 people provided reasons assessed by the AEC as valid and sufficient to explain that they did not participate in the vote, so they were not penalized.
However, there are still about 710,000 people who have not responded to the AEC's notice before the prescribed time limit. According to this agency, cases brought to court may face fines of up to 330 AUD (about 229.5 USD).
The AEC said that all handling decisions are considered based on each specific case.
Like all other legal issues, we will consider many factors before taking further measures," AEC said.
Australia is one of the few countries in the world that applies compulsory voting. According to current regulations, all citizens aged 18 and over who meet the conditions must participate in the election. Those who do not vote and do not have legitimate reasons may be penalized according to the provisions of law.
According to AEC estimates, the voter turnout rate in the 2025 general election reached 90.7%, a slight increase compared to 89.8% in the 2022 election. Although the turnout rate is always among the highest in the world, millions of people still do not fulfill their voting obligations in each election, causing AEC to send notices and handle according to regulations.
Observers believe that the mandatory voting regulation has contributed to maintaining a high voter turnout in Australia for decades, while ensuring the wide representation of election results.
