Referendum analysis doesn’t add up

Tony Ash wrote: “Independent analysis of both the ‘Brexit’ and Thai referendums show that, amid comparatively low turnouts, the winning majority constituted only 34 per cent of registered voters. This means that two out of three voters did not actively support the outcome!” 

How does he know the view of the voters who abstained? Would he have written this if 61 per cent had voted “no” and turnout was 55 per cent? And isn’t it confusing when he mixes the “yes” voters in with the two-thirds of voters who abstained (who include both people against the referendum and those who were undecided)? It is like comparing different species and is stealing the voice of people who didn’t vote.

The reality is that the eligible voters who did not vote cannot be counted for or against, but they end up supporting the outcome since only their negative vote could have changed the result.

Remember Al Gore, who lost the US presidency to George W Bush despite winning half a million votes more because of an unfair system in which “one man one vote” counts less than the electoral college tally.

A Johnsen