They didn’t have much to choose from, people who live in Bindal municipality in Nordland. Illustration photo. Photo: Gorm Kallestad / NTB
The voters did not have much to choose from in Bindal in Nordland. Elle melle – should they take Ap or SV?
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Bindal thus became the municipality in Norway where the most people voted blankly. As many as 16.6 per cent put a blank ballot in the ballot box, an increase of 15.5 percentage points from the 2019 election.
– There are a lot of blank votes. This is proof that there is a lack of people to vote for. It pays to vote, but people must have someone to vote for, says the mayor of Bindal, Britt Helstad (Ap), to VG.
See the list of the municipalities with the most blank votes further down in the matter,
The only parties people could vote for in Bindal were Ap and SV.
While Ap received 503 votes and SV 130, it was 105 who voted blankly.
– It is a great pity that there were not more parties to vote for. It is a shame for democracy, says Helstad.
Nationally, 1.2 percent voted blankly in this year’s municipal elections.
Mayor of Bindal Britt Helstad. Photo: Annika Byrde / NTB
– Signal from the voters
Election researchers believe this is a cry from the voters.
– It’s a signal from the voters that they would like to have a bourgeois alternative, says election researcher Jonas Stein at the University of Tromsø, who believes that the right wing should know its visiting hours and sets up lists in the municipality.
– The parties are expected to take responsibility for this, which is why they receive generous funding from the state.
Election researcher Johannes Bergh at the University of Oslo thinks it is positive that people would rather cast a blank vote than sit at home on the sofa on election day.
– Everyone is obviously not satisfied with the selection and votes blankly to express it. It is a good sign that they speak up by voting blankly.
Voter turnout in Bindal municipality has also decreased. 67.5 per cent took part in the election, but it is, after all, higher than the national average of 62.2 per cent.
– It is also proof that voters have missed parties to vote for. This is not something we should be proud of. It is broken, says mayor Helstad.
Bindal is located in Nordland county, and has just under 1,400 inhabitants.
At the opposite end is Hemsedal in Buskerud. There, 0.2 percent voted blankly, which corresponds to three blank votes.
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Published: 14.09.23 at 06:24
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2023-09-14 04:24:07
#majority #voted #blankly #People #vote
