Abstentionism

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Abstentionism is the policy of seeking election to a body while refusing to take up the seats or even sitting in an alternative assembly.

In the United Kingdom and Ireland this has been an oft used tactic of republicans and nationalists.

In 1918 Sinn Féin MPs nominally elected to the Parliament of the United Kingdom refused to sit in that body and instead constituted themselves as Dáil Éireann and claimed to be the legitimate parliament of Ireland.

In Northern Ireland nationalists generally refused to sit in the Stormont parliament. This policy was at first rejected by the Social Democratic and Labour Party (SDLP), but it has been followed by that party on occasion since. 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.

In the Irish Free State and the later Republic of Ireland, abstentionism has been a controversial question for republican parties. Sinn Féin decided in 1986 to reverse its long-standing policy of not taking seats in Dáil Éireann, and as a result suffered a minor split, with a minority, including some of the party's former leaders, leaving to establish Republican Sinn Féin.

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