Abstention

Abstention is an action that a voter performs in an election that consists of not going to vote, that is, he does not choose any of the available candidates, but neither does he vote null or blank.

When a voter goes to vote, they have the following options: vote for the available candidates, vote blank or vote null. In this case, the electoral appointment is not attended directly and the vote is not taken. Therefore, the electoral results are generated by those who have decided, in one way or another, to participate.

There are countries where voting is mandatory and others where it is optional. In countries that oblige people to vote, turnout is higher, since they face a fine if they do not do so. Some of the countries with mandatory voting are: Australia, Belgium, Argentina, Brazil, Peru, Bolivia, etc. although in some of them it is optional for the old and the young. One factor that may explain the low participation rate in the US (50% - 60%) is that they are not included in the census automatically when they reach the age of majority, but must do it themselves in different ways.

Abstention is key in any electoral process, the good or bad calculation of it by the political parties can be the difference between running a good or bad electoral campaign.

Types

• Active abstention: It is carried out as a form of protest against the democratic, electoral system or for any specific issue. These voters can also express said protest through a null or blank vote.

• Passive abstention: The voters who practice it do so out of general disinterest in politics and everything related to it. It is not that they are against politics, the system, or abstain for some purpose, but that they are directly totally disinterested in political life.

Practical explanation

We have three candidacies: A, B and C. The voters registered in the census, that is, those who have the right to vote are 100. If candidacy A obtains 50 votes, B 30, and C 20, we will say that there has been a 100% participation, that is, there has been no abstention, all those who could vote have voted.

We are on the same stage, 100 people with the right to vote, but now A gets 25 votes, B 30 votes and C 20 votes. In this case, we will affirm that the abstention has been 25%, and it has been decisive, since the candidacies B and C have kept their voters and 25% of the voters of A have decided to abstain, giving the victory to the candidacy B.