Invalid Votes, Deliberate Abstentions, and the Brazilian Crisis of Representation

In: Politics & policy, Band 47, Heft 2, S. 381-406

Abstract

AbstractAugust 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 ArticlesGalatas, 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.xStockemer, 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.12012Stockemer, 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.12067Related MediaThe 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