At present I assume that while there are many small holders of ZEC, a vast majority of those folks will be both unaware that this governance discussion is taking place, and would be incapable of safely voting with their funds even if they were aware. Large holders of ZEC, by contrast, are both more likely to be aware when governance decisions are being made, and have the resources to safely vote with their funds. This asymmetry means that even if the vast majority of ZEC is held by small holders (I don’t know whether this is the case or not) governance votes will likely be dominated by whales, and therefore will favor the interests of whales.
I think that you yourself have proposed the creation of private spaces for large holders of ZEC to discuss and agree upon direction for the project?