Abstention

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Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not go to vote (on election day) or, in parliamentary procedure, is present during the vote, but does not cast a ballot. Abstention must be contrasted with "blank vote", in which a participant in a vote cast a deliberately unlegitimate vote (drawing pictures on the ballot, etc.) or in which he simply casts a blank vote: a "blank (or white) voter" has voted, although his vote may be considered a spoilt vote, depending on each legislation, while an abstentionnist hasn't voted. Both forms (abstention and blank vote) may or may not, depending on the circumstances, be considered as protest vote.

An abstention may be used to indicate the voting individual's ambivalence about the measure, or mild disapproval that does not rise to the level of active opposition. A person may also abstain when they do not feel adequately informed about the issue at hand, or has not participated in relevant discussion. In parliamentary procedure, a member may be required to abstain in the case of a real or perceived conflict of interest.

Abstentions do not count in tallying the vote; when members abstain, they are in effect only attending the meeting to aid in constituting a quorum. White votes, however, may be counted in the total of votes, depending on the legislation. In some countries, some activist groups advocates the counting of white votes and plain abstentions in the total result of vote as a way of displaying the percentage of people opposed to all parliamentary options.

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[edit] A specific case: the 2002 French presidential election

Further information: French presidential election, 2002

During the second turn of the 2002 French presidential election, French citizens had four possible options, since the election opposed Jacques Chirac, leader of the right-wing UMP to Jean-Marie Le Pen, leader of the far-right National Front — the left-wing, usually represented by the three main parties Socialist Party, Communist Party and Greens, were beaten in the first turn by Chirac and Le Pen). Citizens could

  • either vote for Chirac, as Chirac's party and most of the left-wing parties called for (republican reflex against the overthrow of the Republic, observed in most political crisis in France since the founding of the Third Republic) (this is what 82,21% of the people who voted a legitimate vote — i.e. not counting abstention nor white votes — did);
  • vote for Le Pen, as his followers called for or as some rare advocates of the politique du pire, or "politics of the worst option possible", called for, hoping this would lead to a serious political crisis (17,79% of the people who voted a legitimate vote chose Le Pen — not 17,79% of the French citizens!);
  • true abstention (not going to vote, which 20,29% of the people did);
  • blank vote (going to vote but deliberately sending a blank ballot or a ballot with drawings, graffitis, etc., or for neither Chirac nor Le Pen, etc.: which 5,39% of the people did).

Thus, during the two turns of the election, some left-wing radicals had called for a massive abstention or/and a massive white votes: instead of giving 82,21% to Chirac against 17,79% to Le Pen at the second turn, they would have rather counted a mass of left-wing "white votes" which would have put into question the whole democratic legitimacy of the election. Under actual French legislation, nothing would have happened since abstentionists and neutral, blank, votes are not tallied — Chirac wasn't elected with 82,21% support from the French population, but with 82,21% support from the people who went to vote and didn't cast a neutral, white, vote; if we take out the 20,29% of abstentionists and the 5,39% of white votes, than Chirac was elected by 82% of 79,71% of the citizens (i.e. 64% of the citizens) minus the 5% of white votes (4% of the total citizens): thus, if the legislation took into account all the abstentionist votes and the white votes, Chirac would not have had 82,21% at the second turn, but only 61,23% [1] of the votes of all French citizens (which is his real score, opposed to his legal score) — while Le Pen would only had 9,98% [2]. On the other hand, almost a quarter of the French citizens didn't vote neither for Chirac nor for Le Pen [3] and refused what they called a "pseudo-democratic choice". This wasn't taken into account by French law. However, by its sheer number, they clearly would have had an impact (although none can say which one...) and would create a serious political crisis (how can the leader of a party quietly govern a country with less than 20% of the country's explicit support and 80% of explicit opposition?).

[edit] National procedures

In the United States Congress and many other legislatures, members may vote "present" rather than for or against a bill or resolution, which has the effect of an abstention.

In the United Nations Security Council, representatives of the five countries holding a veto power (including the United States, United Kingdom, France, Russia and the People's Republic of China) sometimes abstain rather than vetoing a measure about which they are less than enthusiastic, particularly if the measure otherwise has broad support; by convention their abstention does not block the measure, despite the wording of Article 27.3 of the UN Charter. If a majority of members of the United Nations General Assembly or one of its committees abstain on a measure, then the measure fails.

In the Council of the European Union, an absention on a matter decided by unanimity is in effect a yes vote; on matters decided by qualified majority it is in effect a no vote.

[edit] Endnotes

  1. ^ Chirac: 82,21% of the total valid votes at the second turn, minus 5,39% of white votes; times 79,71% of voting citizens equals 61,23% of total French citizens
  2. ^ Le Pen: ibid: 17,17% of the total valid votes at the second turn, minus 5,39% white votes; times 79,71% voting citizens equal 9,98% of the total citizens
  3. ^ Neither Chirac nor Le Pen: counting the 5,39% white votes — 5,39% times 79,71% voting citizens equals 4,29% of total French citizens — and the abstentionist (non-)vote — 20,29% — a total of 24,58% — 20,29% plus 4,29% equals 24,58%

[edit] See also

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