Election boycott

An election boycott is the boycotting of an election by a group of voters, each of whom abstains from voting.

Boycotting may be used as a form of political protest where voters feel that electoral fraud is likely, or that the electoral system is biased against its candidates, that the polity organizing the election lacks legitimacy, or that the candidates running are very unpopular. In jurisdictions with compulsory voting, a boycott may amount to an act of civil disobedience; alternatively, supporters of the boycott may be able to cast blank votes or vote for "none of the above". Boycotting voters may belong to a particular regional or ethnic group. A particular political party or candidate may refuse to run in the election and urges its supporters to boycott the vote.

In the case of a referendum, a boycott may be used as a voting tactic by opponents of the proposition. If the referendum requires a minimum turnout to be valid, the boycott may prevent this quorum being reached.

In general elections, individuals and parties will often boycott in order to protest the ruling party's policies with the hope that when voters do not show up the elections will be deemed illegitimate by outside observers.[1] This tactic, however, can prove disastrous for the boycotting parties. Lack of participation rarely nullifies election results and the distorted voting is likely to further detach boycotting groups from the organs of power, leaving them susceptible to political irrelevance.[1]

Major instances of electoral boycotts

Election	Turnout (%)	Notes
1971 Trinidad and Tobago general election	33.2
1973 Northern Ireland sovereignty referendum	58.1	Less than 1% amongst Catholics
1978 Guyanese constitutional referendum	70.8	Opposition estimates were between 10% and 14%
1978 South West African legislative election	80.2
1983 Jamaican general election	2.7	6 of 60 seats contested, with 55% turnout in them.
1984 South African general election	29.9 and 20.8
1989 South African general election	18.1 and 23.3
1991 Burkinabé presidential election	27.3
1992 Ghanaian parliamentary election	28.1
1993 Togolese presidential election	36.2
February 1996 Bangladeshi general election	21.0
1997 Malian presidential election	29.0
1997 Yemeni parliamentary election	61.0	Turnout (1993): 84.8%
1997 Slovak referendum	9.5
1997 Serbian general election	57.4	The elections were boycotted by several parties, including the Democratic Party, the Democratic Party of Serbia and the Civic Alliance, which claimed that the elections would not be held under fair conditions
1999 Algerian presidential election	60	Boycotting candidates claimed that it was only around 25%
2000 Ivorian presidential election	37.4
2000 Yugoslavian general election	28.8[nb 1]	Boycotting by the ruling coalition of Montenegro, led by DPS
2002 Gambian parliamentary election	56.4	Voting only took place in 15 of the 48 seats
2002 Montenegrin presidential election	45.9	election invalid
February 2003 Montenegrin presidential election	46.6	election invalid
May 2003 Montenegrin presidential election	48.4
2003 Guinean presidential election	86	Opposition estimates were less than 15%
2005 Venezuelan parliamentary election	25.3
2006 Thai general election	65.2	Boycotted by all 3 opposition parties in the House of Representatives.
2008 Djiboutian parliamentary election	72.6
2014 Thai general election	65.2	Boycotting by Democrat Party.
2014 Bangladeshi general election	22.0
2016 Hungarian migrant quota referendum	44.0	Referendum boycotted by MSZP, DK, Együtt, Párbeszéd, Modern Hungary Movement and The Homeland Not For Sale Movement Party, resulting in 98% of voters supporting the government. 224 thousand voters submitted invalid ballots, influenced by a campaign by the Hungarian Two-tailed Dog Party.
2017 Puerto Rican status referendum	23	Statehood, polled at 52% just 2 weeks prior, chosen by 97% of voters
2017 Venezuelan Constituent Assembly election	41.5	Opposition estimates were around 20%
2017 Catalan independence referendum	43.03	Opposition parties called on their voters to boycott the vote, except Catalunya Sí que es Pot who supported participation.[2]
2018 Egyptian presidential election	41.1
2018 Venezuelan presidential election	46.1	Opposition estimates were between 17% and 26%
2018 Macedonian referendum	36.9
2019 Albanian local elections	23.0	Opposition estimates were 15.1%
2019 Algerian presidential election	39.9
2020 Artsakhian general election	45.0
2020 Serbian parliamentary election	48.9

Boycott campaigns

In South Africa, the three largest independent social movements boycott the vote under the banner of the No Land! No House! No Vote! Campaign.

Other social movements in other parts of the world also have similar campaigns or non-voting preferences. These include the Naxalites in India, the Zapatista Army of National Liberation in Mexico and various Anarchist oriented movements. In Mexico's mid term 2009 elections there was strong support for 'Nulo'—a campaign to vote for no one.[3][4][5] In India poor people's movements in Singur, Nandigram and Lalgarh have rejected parliamentary politics (as well as the NGO and Maoist alternatives).[6]

Outcome

Analyzing the hybrid regimes in the period 1981-2006, the political scientist Ian O. Smith concluded that an election boycott by the opposition could increase the chances that the ruling party will lose future elections.[7] Gregory Weeks noted that some authoritarian regimes in Latin America were prolonged due to the boycott of the opposition.[8] Gail Buttorff and Douglas Dion explain that boycotts by the opposition under authoritarianism have led to different outcomes, sometimes predicting regime change and sometimes to make stronger the current government.[9]

See also

• Abstention, an individual not voting
• Abstentionism, running in an election to a deliberative assembly but refusing to take any seats won

References

Notes

1. in Montenegro

Citations

1. Frankel, Matthew. "Election Boycotts Don't Work" Archived 13 June 2010 at the Wayback Machine, Brookings Institution, 3 November 2009.
2. "Les bases de Podem Catalunya donen suport al referèndum de l'1 d'octubre però no el veuen vinculant". VilaWeb.cat (in Catalan). Retrieved 25 September 2017.
3. Marc Lacey (21 June 2009). "Disgruntled Mexicans Plan an Election Message to Politicians: We Prefer Nobody". The New York Times. p. A8.
4. "Vota en Blanco". Archived from the original on 23 June 2009. Retrieved 22 June 2009.
5. Nancy Davies (21 June 2009). "Representative Democracy versus Participatory Democracy". The Narco News Bulletin.
6. Avijit Ghosh (21 June 2009). "No revolution for old radicals". The Times of India.
7. Smith, Ian O. (2013). "Election Boycotts and Hybrid Regime Survival". Comparative Political Studies. 47 (5): 743–765. doi:10.1177/0010414013488548.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)
8. Weeks, Gregory (1 March 2013). "A cautionary tale for election boycotts". Foreign Policy.
9. Buttorff, Gail; Dion, Douglas (2016). "Participation and boycott in authoritarian elections". Journal of Theoretical Politics. 29 (1): 97–123. doi:10.1177/0951629816630431.CS1 maint: ref=harv (link)