1.   Yorke suspects many Conservative voters will abstain but will vote Conservative in the next general election.

2.   However, commentators have predicted many ordinary voters would abstain to protest restrictions on dissent and political activity in Indonesia.

3.   Many voters abstained out of fidelity to Aristide, who remains the most popular politician in Haiti.

4.   Voters have been abstaining in droves while Japan has gone through a series of short-lived and divided governments.

5.   Of the four main opposition parties, only the left-leaning Organisation of Democratic and Popular Action has called on voters to abstain.

6.   Opinion polls taken last week showed that up to one in three voters might abstain.