federalelection:suffrage

I thought I would step away from the scrutiny of recent events and make an observation on the actual system.

If you are lucky enough to be someone who lives in a society as tolerant as Canada, please be careful to not take your freedoms for granted.
More specifically, I am talking about suffrage and universal suffrage.
The right to vote.

Most westernised democrasies have introduced universal suffrage into society, Iraq being the most recent (this year, no less).
Canada was a bit of a forerunner in this sense over here introducing it fully in 1960, with The States following suit a couple of years later.
I've been told that my great grandmother was a member of the Women's Suffrage Movement in the UK who finally secured universal suffrage in 1928.
Whether she actually chained herself to parliament like many others, I do not know; what I am convinced of is of it's importance to us in society now.

There are many, many environments around the world right now where even if "democratic" elections are held, many are not allowed to vote on grounds of ethnicity, gender, religion, status - the list goes on.
Unfortunately, many of the disenfranchised also happen to dwell under the most obscenely corrupted governments (see Mugabe).

Even today, the heavily developed and progressive territory of Hong Kong has it's voting rights suspended in the balance.
Pro-democracy campaigners have faced an uphill battle against a heavy handed and controlling Beijing government since 1997, and universal suffrage again appears to be the major issue.