I had forgotten the possibility embraced by a surprising number of democracies or other systems such as that used in Russia: a ballot paper would have a box allowing you to clarify that the presented candidates or parties are simply unelectable in the voters’ opinion.
It is based on the principle that the ability to vote has to be accompanied by the ability to withhold that vote, just as it is by having “No” on ballot questions. It must not be confused with “abstention”, where a voter does not cast a ballot.
Bodies that include “None of the Above” on ballots as standard procedure include Argentina, Belarus, Belgium, Bulgaria („Не подкрепям никого“, “I don’t support anyone”), Canada, Colombia (voto en blanco), France (vote blanc, “blank vote”), Greece (λευκό, blank), India (“None of the above”), Indonesia (kotak kosong, “empty box”), Mongolia, the Netherlands, North Korea, Norway, Peru, Spain (voto en blanco, “blank vote”), Kazakhstan, Switzerland, Uruguay, The US State of Nevada (None of These Candidates).
In Peru, the ballot is declared null and void if two-thirds of the voters vote blank. The Norwegian election regulation makes it mandatory to present voters with blank ballots in addition to all of the approved parties and election lists. In the Soviet Union parliamentary election of 2013, 12,874 votes, which is 0.45% of the total votes given, were blank. In the 1990 elections that led to the dissolution of the Soviet Union, the Soviet version of “none of the above” (cross-out voting) led to new elections with new candidates in 200 races of the 1,500-seat Congress of People’s Deputies. More than 100 incumbents representing the Communist Party of the Soviet Union were defeated in the run-off, leading Boris Yeltsin later to say the “none of the above” option “helped convince the people they had real power even in a rigged election, and [it] played a role in building true democracy.”
None Of The Above Zero was a candidate at the 2010 general election in Filton and Bradley Stoke. Previously known as Eric Mutch, he changed his name by deed poll to stand under that name. As candidates are listed by surname first, he appeared on the ballot paper as “Zero, None Of The Above”, effectively giving voters a “none of the above” option since had he been elected, he would have resigned immediately. He came last with 172 votes.
The South Wales Anarchists group has run a campaign urging people to “Vote Nobody” since 2008 and many other anarchist groups worldwide have promoted similar slogans. In Serbia, None of the above (Ниједан од понуђених одговора, НОПО) is a parliamentary political party, legally formed in 2010, which was mostly popularized on Facebook and less so on other social networking websites. In the 2012 Serbian parliamentary election, they received 22,905 votes and thus won one seat in the National Assembly of Serbia.
I don’t want any of the current political parties to win nationally, albeit we have a perfectly nice local MP. But whilst loyalty is a noble asset, I would have been hugely more supportive of her had she not remained resolutely in the sway of CCHQ. If only she had said out loud, I’m sorry, these people are taking the piss, and I’m crossing the floor to sit as an independent. Sadly, she will probably lose the seat and be replaced by one of the plankton sub-species from the Gurning Davey Party. (I wonder whether it will be compulsory for all Lib Dem MPs to every day go paddle-boarding or white-water rafting or any of the relentlessly shabby, unpolitical, and pointless activities the Lib Dem Leader seems to have undertaken to mask the fact he makes Butterscotch Angel’s Delight look intellectually savvy.). I think it was Halifax who said:
Ignorance makes most men go into a political party, and shame keeps them from getting out of it.
I would be more than happy to see it on British ballot papers, and as I am increasingly considering Proportional Representation as a better system, this would fit within a potential change of political heart.