Everything about Abstentionism totally explained
Abstentionism is standing for
election to a
deliberative assembly while refusing to take up any seats won or otherwise participate in the assembly's business. Abstentionism differs from an
election boycott in that abstentionists participate in the election itself. Abstentionism has been used by
Irish nationalist political movements in the
United Kingdom and
Ireland since the early
19th century.
In Ireland
After the
Act of Union 1800, Ireland was represented at
Westminster in the
House of Commons of the
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Repeal of the Act of Union was a goal of many
Irish nationalists.
In 1845, a motion was carried at the
Repeal Association's committee for all Irish MPs to withdraw from Westminster. It was proposed by
Thomas Osborne Davis of the
Young Ireland movement. However, the committee felt MPs already sitting couldn't withdraw without breaking the
oath of office they'd taken upon election. The
Irish Confederation, which withrew from the Repeal Association in 1847, resolved in favour of immediate abstention. However,
William Smith O'Brien, its founder, continued to speak at Westminster. In 1848
Charles Gavan Duffy proposed that Irish MPs expelled from Westminster should sit in a separate Irish parliament.
Other early abstentionist advocates included
George Sigerson in 1862, and
John Dillon in 1878, who envisaged abstentionist Irish MPs meeting in a separate Irish parliament.
From the 1860's,
Irish Republican Brotherhood leaders
Charles Kickham and
John O'Leary favoured abstentionism. In 1869,
G.H. Moore suggested nominating imprisoned
republicans for election, knowing they were precluded as convicted
felons from taking seats. On this basis,
Jeremiah O'Donovan Rossa (in 1870) and
John Mitchel (twice in 1875) were returned at by-elections in
Tipperary; O'Donovan Rossa was in prison at his election, while Mitchel was in exile.
Kickham envisaged a "great national conference" calling on Irish MPs to withdraw from Westminster. A motion proposed by Charles Doran to that effect was passed at the convention of the
Home Rule League (HRL).
"Honest" John Martin, "independent nationalist" MP for
Meath 1871-75, spoke in Westminster only to raise nationalist protests, and refused to vote. In
the 1874 election, 59 HRL MPs were returned, including
John O'Connor Power in
Mayo, who was a member of the IRB Supreme Council. He was to fall out with the IRB over allegations of misappropriating election funds, and became progressively less radical. By 1876, it was clear that the HRL would never be able to organise a national convention, and MPs elected with its endorsement would remain at Westminster. An alternative to abstentionism was
obstructionism by making
filibusters. This was practised by the HRL and its successor, the
Irish Parliamentary Party under
Charles Stuart Parnell from the late 1870s.
Sinn Féin
Arthur Griffith's "
Sinn Féin Policy", formulated 1905–07, called for Irish MPs to abstain from Westminster and sit in a parallel parliament in
Dublin. The first Sinn Féin abstentionist candidate was
Charles Nolan in 1908. Having sat as MP for
North Leitrim for the
Irish Parliamentary Party, he resigned after joining Sinn Féin, and lost the ensuing by-election.
In 1919,
Sinn Féin Members of Parliament (MPs)
elected in 1918 to the
Parliament of the United Kingdom refused to sit in that body and instead constituted themselves as the
first Dáil, which was claimed to be the legitimate
parliament of the
Irish Republic.
One strand within Republicanism, in remaining loyal to this pre-
Partition Irish Republic, denies the
legitimacy of both the
Republic of Ireland and
Northern Ireland. Other parties reached accommodation with the southern state but not Northern Ireland. Some groups have boycotted elections within either jurisdiction; others have been abstentionist; others abstained from some bodies but not others. Abstentionism has often been a divisive issue within Republicanism.
Anti-Treaty Sinn Féin abstained from the
first (1923-27) Dáil of the
Irish Free State.
Fianna Fáil split from Sinn Féin in 1927 and abandoned abstentionism in the Free State, but for a time contested elections to the
Parliament of Northern Ireland at
Stormont and abstained.
In 1955, Sinn Féin contested
local elections in the Republic of Ireland and took its seats.
In
1970, at its
Ard Fheis (annual conference), Sinn Féin split again on the issue of whether or not to reverse its long-standing policy of refusing to taking seats in
Dáil Éireann. The split created "
Official Sinn Féin" (later Sinn Féin the Workers Party - SFWP) and the abstentionist "
Provisional Sinn Féin" (PSF). Sinn Féin the Workers Party won a seat in the Dáil
in 1981. It later dropped Sinn Féin from its name to become "
The Workers Party", so that PSF became simply "Sinn Féin".
Sinn Féin adopted the "
armalite and ballot box strategy" in 1981, and first contested modern elections in Northern Ireland with the
1982 Assembly elections which they abstained from. They also abstained from the
Northern Ireland Forum. They adopted non-abstentionist policies for elections
to local authorities (next held in 1985) and
to the European Parliament.
Another split occurred in
1986, on the same issue, leading again to two parties - Sinn Féin, led by
Gerry Adams, and
Republican Sinn Féin (RSF), led by
Ruairí Ó Brádaigh. Sinn Féin's first sitting
Teachta Dála was
Caoimhghín Ó Caoláin in
Cavan-Monaghan in
1997.
RSF has retained the policy of abstentionism from both Dáil Éireann and the
Northern Ireland Assembly. RSF hasn't in fact contested elections for Dáil Éireann or Westminster. It isn't a registered party in Northern Ireland, but members have contested the Assembly elections as
independents.
In Northern Ireland
After Partition, most non-abstentionist parties in the southern state didn't organise at all in Northern Ireland.
The
Nationalist Party didn't take their seats during the
first Stormont parliament (1921-25). Despite forming the second-largest
parliamentary party, they didn't accept the role of
Opposition for a further forty years. They did so on
2 February 1965 but withdrew from opposition again in October 1968, two weeks after police batonned demonstrators at a
civil rights march in
Derry on
5 October 1968.
The
Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP) became the Opposition on its formation on
21 August 1970 but that party withdrew from Stormont in July
1971. The SDLP participated in
the assembly set up for the
Sunningdale Agreement, and in the
Constitutional Convention. However, they abstained from the
1982 Assembly, and their participation in the
Northern Ireland Forum was intermittent.
Since the establishment of the
Northern Ireland Assembly under the
Good Friday Agreement, both the SDLP and Sinn Féin have taken their seats in that body. SDLP MPs have consistently taken their seats in the
Westminster parliament, in contrast to Sinn Féin MPs who refuse to take their seats there, as they refuse to recognise that body's right to legislate for any part of Ireland.
Fianna Fáil registered as a political party within Northern Ireland in 2007. It doesn't intend to take seats in Westminster, but it isn't clear whether it'll stand candidates in these elections.
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