Citizens for Blank Votes

Kingdom of Spain
This article is part of a series on the politics and government of Spain
Constitution Fundamental laws Act of Succession Constitutional Court Human rights
The Crown Monarch King Felipe VI Princess of Asturias Leonor Royal Family Privy Council
Executive Government Rajoy Cabinet Prime Minister (list) Mariano Rajoy Deputy Prime Minister Soraya S. de Santamaría Palacio de las Cortes Palacio del Senado Ministries
Legislature Cortes Generales (parliament) Congress of Deputies Speaker: J. Posada Senate Speaker: P. García-Escudero Leader of the Opposition Pedro Sánchez People's Defender (ombudsman) Court of Accounts
Judiciary General Council of the Judiciary Supreme Court Constitutional Court Audiencia Nacional
Elections Political parties Recent elections Parliamentary: 2015 2011 2008 European: 2014 2009 2004
Administrative geography Spain Autonomous communities Regional governments Regional legislatures Provinces Comarcas Municipalities
Foreign relations Foreign relations Diplomatic missions of Spain in Spain Politics of the European Union
Related topics Spanish Armed Forces National Police Corps
Other countries Atlas Politics portal

Citizens for Blank Votes (Spanish: Ciudadanos En Blanco) is a Spanish political party.

In Spanish electoral law, a distinction is made between valid votes, blank votes (votos en blanco) and null votes. Blank votes are interpreted as correctly executed votes for "none of the above", and consistently about 2% of votes are blank. Voting "blank" is not the same thing as abstaining, and so it has been argued that blank votes should be recognized as legitimate by apportioning empty seats in representative bodies according to the number of blank votes. Abstainers, the argument continues, exclude themselves from the democratic process and so need not be recognized in this way.

The platform of Ciudadanos En Blanco is that, if elected, their candidates will leave their seats vacant, until such time as the Spanish electoral law is reformed to recognize blank votes in the manner described above. At that point, the party will have no more reason to exist.

The party's slogan is No votes en blanco, vota a Ciudadanos En Blanco (Do not vote "en blanco", vote for Citizens "En Blanco").

External links

• Party website