2023-09-20 15:48:32
With the Presidential Lab, Le Parisien invites you to share your ideas for France. Concrete measures that our journalists will scrutinize throughout the campaign, without bias. To contribute, use our online form.
Since the major national debate organized by the government in response to the Yellow Vest movement, Le Parisien has invited its readers to send it the citizens’ legislative proposals that they would like to see emerge.
This Friday, we are looking at one of them: taking into account the blank vote in the votes cast, requested by our reader Gilles. A measure that several presidential candidates wish to implement.
What is it about ?
For assessors in France, a vote is considered blank when the voter places an empty envelope in the ballot box or one filled with a blank sheet of paper of the same size as the candidates’ ballot.
Since 2014, the blank vote has been differentiated from the invalid vote, which consists of inserting a torn, scratched ballot or any paper other than a candidate’s ballot into the ballot box. The percentage of blank votes is therefore now published after each election, which provides an idea of the number of citizens who were not convinced by any of the candidates in the running.
However, the blank vote is not counted in the votes cast. Clearly, its number, even massive, has no impact on the election.
If we look at the presidential election for example, the Constitution provides that “the President is elected by an absolute majority of the votes cast”. In the second round, he necessarily obtained more than 50% of the votes cast, given that there were only two candidates left.
Why take it into account?
With the blank vote taken into account in the total votes cast, the absolute majority would then be much more difficult to achieve. “Taking blank votes into account would amount to lowering the candidates’ score: for example, Jacques Chirac in 1995 or François Hollande in 2012 would not have had more than 50% if they had been counted in the votes cast,” declared Jérémie Moualek , researcher in political sociology (Universities of Évry and Lille 2) in an interview with Le Parisien in 2017.
Supporters of recognizing the blank vote consider it a real citizen choice. The voter, by voting blank, expresses the fact that he does not recognize himself in any of the candidates present.
Which candidates ask for it?
Several presidential candidates are in favor of recognizing the blank vote. This is the case of Anne Hidalgo, Yannick Jadot or Nicolas Dupont-Aignan.
Candidate Nathalie Arthaud declared itself in favor of recognizing the blank vote among the signatories of a petition in 2017. The same year, Jean Lassalle assured, in his program, to approve it.
“If you elect me, I will have the blank vote recognized,” promised presidential candidate Jean-Luc Mélenchon. in a video posted on his blog on January 12. In 2017, the leader of La France insoumise went even further. “If 50% + 1 of the people voted blank, we could consider that the vote was purely and simply canceled,” he declared in a similar video.
In 2019, after the great national debate, Emmanuel Macron said about the blank vote that he had “thought about it a lot” but that he “won’t do it”. “White, that doesn’t decide. White, that won’t solve any problem,” he defended.
Which countries recognize the blank vote?
Sweden recognizes the blank vote only in referendums: for the “yes” to win, it must have a score greater than the sum of the “no” votes and the blank votes.
In Switzerland, the blank vote is counted in the votes, but a relative and not absolute majority is enough to be elected, reports The world. Clearly, the blank vote does not influence the election that much.
If the second round of an election results in an absolute majority of blank votes in Colombia, it is declared invalid and another ballot is organized, with the candidates from the first ballot prohibited from running again. Finally, in Peru, the blank vote can also invalidate an election if it represents two-thirds of the votes.
How to set it up?
Taking into account the blank vote in France would therefore amount to adding a third possibility of voting in the second round of an election. “However, this could lead to the situation that no candidate obtains an absolute majority in the second round,” pointed out a Senate report published in 2013. Nothing prevents us from imagining a second round of the presidential election with 10% of blank votes, 46% of the votes for candidate A and 44% for candidate B.
In this scenario, two choices would then oppose each other: organize a new election, as in Colombia, or modify the Constitution and establish an election by relative majority, as in Switzerland. “It would be difficult to draw conclusions from a significant proportion, or even a majority, of blank ballots: should we plan to organize a new ballot? Should we designate, by drawing lots, citizens for a number of seats to be filled corresponding to the score obtained? », asks the 2013 report.
Another difficulty highlighted in the same report: during a referendum, voting blank would be equivalent to voting against the proposal. The debates are therefore not about to stop, even if the French elect a candidate in favor of recognizing the blank vote next April.
In summary
For its defenders, the recognition of the blank vote would offer the possibility of electing more legitimate representatives and would restore citizens’ confidence in institutions. But its complicated implementation involves modifying the Constitution, without forgetting the question mark concerning referendums.
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