Invalid Votes, Deliberate Abstentions, and the Brazilian Crisis of Representation. Issue 2 (20th March 2019)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Nepomuceno, Thyago Celso Cavalcante; Costa, Ana Paula Cabral Seixas
• Is Part Of: Politics & policy. Volume 47:Issue 2(2019:Apr.)
• Page Start: 381
• Page End: 406
• Publication Date: 2019-03-20
• Subjects: Voting Behavior -- Parties -- Elections -- Voting -- Social Choice -- Brazil -- Representation Crisis -- Latin America -- Presidential Elections -- Two‐Round Electoral Systems -- Voter Turnout -- Protest Voting -- Null Votes -- Abstentions -- Invalid Votes -- Condorcet Winner Candidates -- Condorcet Loser Candidates -- Impeachment; Comportamiento electoral -- Brasil -- América Latina -- Elecciones presidenciales -- Opinión pública -- Partidos -- Elecciones y votaciones -- Partidos -- Asuntos políticos -- Votos no válidos -- Dilma Rousseff -- Destitución; 投票行为 -- 巴西 -- 拉美 -- 总统选举 -- 舆论 -- 政党 -- 选举和投票 -- 政治议题 -- 非法投票 -- 迪尔玛·罗塞夫 -- 弹劾; Political science -- Periodicals; World politics -- 21st century -- Periodicals; 320
• DOI: 10.1111/polp.12298
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 1555-5623

Abstract

Abstract: August 31, 2016 registered the historical impeachment of Brazilian president, Dilma Rousseff, indicted for contravening the budget law and misstating the public deficit that propelled the country into deep economic recession. Many disagreements on this matter have permeated the country's conflict atmosphere, supported by arguments that the collective will of more than 54 million voters was disrespected. Based on 3, 010 interviews conducted in 204 Brazilian cities, we construct a pairwise comparison to present arguments that Rousseff had no legitimate representation in the 2014 national elections. We demonstrate how the suboptimal support of invalid votes and deliberate abstentions might have misrepresented the results of Brazilian presidential election by choosing a pseudo‐Condorcet loser candidate. The results in the Brazilian case study presented here point to the weakness in the social process of aggregating preferences by relative or absolute majority, and sets out recommendations. Related Articles: Galatas, Steven. 2008. "'None of the Above?' Casting Blank Ballots in Ontario Provincial Elections." Politics & Policy 36 (3): 448‐473.https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-1346.2008.00116.x Stockemer, Daniel. 2013. "Corruption and Turnout in Presidential Elections: A Macro‐Level Quantitative Analysis." Politics & Policy 41 (2): 189‐212.https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12012 Stockemer, Daniel, and Stephanie Parent. 2014. "The Inequality Turnout Nexus: New Evidence from Presidential Elections." Politics & Policy 42 (2): 221‐245.https://doi.org/10.1111/polp.12067 Related Media: The Conversation. 2017. "Kenneth Arrow's Legacy and Why Elections Can Be Flawed." March 1.https://theconversation.com/kenneth-arrows-legacy-and-why-elections-can-be-flawed-73675