Protest Vote in Various Countries
In the United States, cartoon and other fictitious characters are typically used as protest votes; as Mickey Mouse is the most well-known and well-recognized character in the United States, his name is frequently selected for this purpose. Other popular selections include Donald Duck and Bugs Bunny.
A similar phenomenon occurs in the parliamentary elections in Finland and Sweden, although Finns and Swedes usually write Donald Duck as a protest vote because in these countries Donald is more famous than Mickey. Other characters, both real and fictional, are used as protest votes too. One theory has it that the reason for boxer/politician Tony Halme's popularity in one of the Finnish elections was because he was being used as a protest vote. Somewhat ironically, this might mean that protest votes actually got someone elected.
Read more about this topic: Protest Vote
Famous quotes containing the words protest, vote and/or countries:
“I take enormous pleasure every time I see something that I’ve done that cannot be wiped out. In some way ... I guess it’s a protest against mortality. But it’s been so much fun! It’s the curiosity that drives me. It’s making a difference in the world that prevents me from ever giving up.”
—Deborah Meier (b. 1931)
“While I believe that with a fair election in the South, our electoral vote would reach two hundred, and that we should have a large popular majority, I am yet anxious, as you are, that in the canvassing of results there should be no taint of dishonesty.”
—Rutherford Birchard Hayes (1822–1893)
“In some things, we Americans leave to other countries the carrying out of the principle that stands at the head of our Declaration of Independence.”
—Herman Melville (1819–1891)