My stance is usually that even if I don't endorse any party wholeheartedly, there's always something to vote against - of course in a true multi-party system it's much easier to do a protest vote.
I only not voted once, and that was not an election, but a referendum: for reasons of experimenting with improving participation and involvement, it was decided to hold a referendum for who would be mayor in our town (it's an appointed position here, so the referendum was non-binding). Since both candidates were from the same party (and unknowns to most people), and voters had had no say in (or even information about) the selection process, this of course failed spectacularly.
There were campaigns not to participate in this farce, and I'm quite proud that only about 10% of people voted.
no subject
I only not voted once, and that was not an election, but a referendum: for reasons of experimenting with improving participation and involvement, it was decided to hold a referendum for who would be mayor in our town (it's an appointed position here, so the referendum was non-binding). Since both candidates were from the same party (and unknowns to most people), and voters had had no say in (or even information about) the selection process, this of course failed spectacularly.
There were campaigns not to participate in this farce, and I'm quite proud that only about 10% of people voted.