Politics & Power Quote by Maria Corina Machado

Calling the vote "sacred" is a calculated act of political framing: it turns a bureaucratic procedure into a moral rite. Maria Corina Machado isn’t just praising civic participation; she’s attempting to relocate legitimacy away from institutions that can be captured and toward citizens whose authority can’t be so easily edited, censored, or disqualified. In a country where elections are often shadowed by accusations of manipulation, that word "sacred" functions like a protective charm. If voting is holy, then obstructing it isn’t merely partisan hardball; it’s desecration.

The line also performs a subtle inversion. Many regimes treat the vote as a gift handed down from the state, proof of benevolence. Machado flips it: voting is an "exercise" of power that already belongs to the citizen. The state becomes the venue, not the source, of authority. That matters in contexts where the ballot is tolerated so long as it ratifies the expected outcome. By emphasizing "power" rather than "right", she moves from entitlement to agency. Rights can be granted, suspended, litigated; power is something you wield.

There’s a strategic austerity to the phrasing. No policy promises, no ideological labels, just a compact creed aimed at coalition-building. It invites even politically exhausted people to see participation as self-respect, not optimism. The subtext is clear: staying home isn’t neutral; it’s surrendering a power that, once relinquished, becomes someone else’s instrument.