ABSTENTION

Abstention

Abstention is a term in election procedure for when a participant in a vote either does not go to vote 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 voter casts a ballot willfully made invalid by marking it wrongly or by not marking anything at all. A "blank voter" has voted, although his vote may be considered a spoilt vote, depending on each legislation, while an abstaining voter hasn't voted. Both forms may or may not, depending on the circumstances, be considered to be protest vote.

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abstention

Noun

  1. The act of restraining oneself.
  2. The act of abstaining; a holding aloof; refraining from. <ref name=SOED/>
  3. The act of declining to vote on a particular issue. <ref name=SOED/>
  4. Non-participation in the political world; as a country avoiding international affairs.


The above text is a snippet from Wiktionary: abstention
and as such is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share-Alike License.

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