On Mon, 23 Jun 2014 17:58:58 +0100, Tim Watts wrote:

Only 27%

That ^^ is the relevant figure.

For the purposes of choosing the elected representatives, yes.

of those who turned out, less than 10% of the electorate as a

This ^^ is irrelevant in a democracy that works as ours does.

Not for the purposes of making claims as to what swathe of society
support a particular party's view.

Abstaining is abstaining - those who abstain cannot be inferred to hold
one view or the other.

They can be inferred not to strongly support one view, though.