Apart from the perennial issue of abstention from elections, which occasionally enters the public discourse, there is another matter concerning blank and invalid votes.
As is well known, blank and invalid votes are not counted and do not affect the final election result, as only valid votes are considered in the overall percentages.
As mentioned, most voters who chose to cast blank votes did so in the elections for the five District Organisation of Local Government Presidents. This clearly shows that citizens did not fully understand the role of this new institution. Because, in this significant reform of local governance, the new institution of the District Organisation of Local Government is the most crucial.
Apparently, there was a lack of thorough and adequate information provided to citizens about the District Organisation of Local Government. This is evident from the results, which show that approximately 16% of voters cast blank votes, essentially choosing not to vote in this particular election while likely completing other ballots.
A significant number of blank ballots were also observed in the school board elections, with a total of 53,980 voters, or 17.24%, making this choice. Furthermore, in the European Parliament elections, the number of blank ballots stood at 25,371 (6.31%), while similar percentages were recorded in the elections for mayors, deputy mayors, and municipal council members.
What does this mean? Why are there such high percentages of blank and invalid ballots? Why would someone go to a polling station and make the effort to cast a vote, only to submit a blank or invalid ballot?
Can this choice be interpreted as a political stance? It can indeed be translated into political terms. Casting a blank vote signifies a rejection of all options, a vote against everyone. While we may not necessarily agree with this sentiment, it is nonetheless a political choice, an explicit rejection of all candidates or parties.
However, there is another dimension to this issue that we cannot ignore. It is highly possible that voters showed up at the polls and only voted in some of the elections. They may have chosen to vote in the European Parliament elections or for local governance but then opted out of casting ballots for certain positions, such as school boards or District Organisation of Local Government Presidents.
If this scenario holds true for most cases, two issues arise. The first is the holding of simultaneous elections, and the second is the lack of comprehensive information provided to citizens.
Both of these aspects need to be carefully evaluated, and corrective actions should be considered.
