OTTAWA — The May 2 federal election ended up being more intriguing than expected, but most Canadians who did not vote say it was a lack of interest that kept them away from the polling stations.

Statistics Canada reported on Tuesday that 28 per cent of the 7.5 million eligible voters who did not cast a ballot in the election said they “were not interested in voting,” which included the feeling that their vote would not have made a difference.

Another 23 per cent told the federal statistics agency they were too busy with family, work or school, 10 per cent said they were out of town or away, 8 per cent said they did not like the candidates or issues, 4 per cent said they simply forgot and 1 per cent said they did not vote because of religious beliefs.

One political scientist said the number of respondents who cited a lack of interest is actually not that high, considering Canada does not force everyone to vote and our first-past-the-post electoral system can often leave voters feeling like their ballots do not count.

“Twenty-eight per cent might be a glass half-empty or half-full question,” said Renan Levine, a lecturer at the University of Toronto, Scarborough.

Levine added the election campaign did not centre on big, divisive, national questions and many voters likely felt the Conservatives would win and there would be no obvious difference between whether they formed a majority or minority government.

“I might say, ‘Hogwash, there are differences,’ but for Joe Q. Public, on the absence of these really big, divisive issues, some of them may not see that much (interest) and there is only so much we can do about that, because why would we want to have more divisive issues? That would be counterproductive,” Levine said.

Nelson Wiseman, a political science professor at the University of Toronto, said he is not too worried about a lack of interest keeping people away from the polls.

“Isn’t it inevitable? I mean, some people just don’t have a political gene and aren’t interested in politics. It’s like asking: why isn’t everyone interested in going to an art gallery?” Wiseman said.

Wiseman does not believe it bothers most political parties much either.

“Does the political class really care about voter turnout? If they did — if they think it’s critical — they should make it mandatory,” said Wiseman, noting that voting is compulsory in Australia.

The Statistics Canada survey suggests reasons for not voting varied across age groups, with 30 per cent of eligible voters aged 18 to 24 saying they were not interested.

Among seniors aged 65 to 74 who did not vote, 22 per cent cited or illness or disability, which was the most common response, and 21 per cent said they were not interested.

Frank Graves, president of polling firm EKOS Research Associates, said a lack of interest from young would-be voters can lead to a distance from federal politics that runs deeper than the results on election night.

“It may be possible that we will be reshaping our public institutions more in the interest of older Canadians who are either disengaged or disengaging from active participation in the labour market and the economy and so forth and by corollary having little relevance or lesser relevance for the (younger) ones who are taking over the country,” Graves said.

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“That can further weaken their interests such that the federal government becomes less and less important in people’s lives as time goes on.”

Statistics Canada derived the data for its report from three questions added to the May 2011 Labour Force Survey, commissioned by Elections Canada.