"The Presidential Lab": should we recognize the blank vote?

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Since the great national debate organized by the government in response to the Yellow Vests movement, Le Parisien invites its readers to send it the citizens' bills they would like to see emerge.

This Tuesday, 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 want to put in place.

What is it about ?

For the assessors in France, a vote is considered blank when the voter deposits in the ballot box an empty envelope or one filled with a blank sheet of paper of the same size as the ballot paper of the candidates.

Since 2014, the blank vote has been different from the invalid vote, which consists of introducing 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 gives an idea of ​​the number of citizens who have not been 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 obtains more than 50% of the votes cast, since the candidates are only two.

Why take it into account?

If the blank vote is taken into account in the total votes cast, an absolute majority would then be much more difficult to achieve.

“Taking into account the blank votes would amount to reducing the score of the candidates: for example, Jacques Chirac in 1995 or François Hollande in 2012 would not have 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.

Proponents of recognition of the blank vote consider it a real citizen choice.

The voter, by voting blank, expresses the fact that he does not identify with 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.

The candidate Nathalie Arthaud had declared herself in favor of the recognition of the blank vote with the signatories of a petition in 2017. The same year, Jean Lassalle assured, in his program, to approve it.

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“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 is purely and simply canceled,” he said in a similar video.

In 2019, after the great national debate, Emmanuel Macron said about the white vote that he had "thought a lot" about it but that he "won't do it".

“White, that does not decide.

White, it will not 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 score higher than the sum of the “no” and the blank votes.

In Switzerland, the white vote is counted in the votes, but a relative and not absolute majority is enough to be elected, reports Le Monde.

Clearly, the blank vote does not influence the election that much.

If the second round of an election gives an absolute majority of white votes in Colombia, this is declared invalid and another ballot is organized, with a ban on the candidates of the first ballot from standing again.

Finally, in Peru, a 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% blank votes, 46% of the votes for candidate A and 44% for candidate B.

In this case, two choices would then be opposed: organize a new ballot, as in Colombia, or modify the Constitution and establish an election by relative majority, as in Switzerland.

“It would be difficult to draw the conclusions from a large proportion, or even a majority of blank ballots: should we plan to organize a new ballot?

Should we nominate, by drawing lots, citizens for a number of seats to be filled corresponding to the score obtained?

asks the 2013 report.

Another difficulty underlined 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 white 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 the confidence of citizens in the institutions.

But its complicated implementation involves modifying the Constitution, without forgetting the question mark concerning referendums.