abstention

The United States this week advocated changing the voting process to give more weight to abstentions, a proposal that will be considered early Friday.

The vote in the state Assembly was 71 yes, 0 no with 9 abstentions; the vote in the state Senate was 35 yes, 0 no, 5 abstentions.

With government-aligned senators absent, the motion passed with 52 votes in favour and four abstentions.

The size of that rebellion is not yet clear, although it is thought some 50 Labour MPs could still vote against the bill, and there would be several abstentions.

Last October, the Senedd voted against a motion calling for a law to allow assisted dying, albeit with a number of abstentions.