I only said that total apathy would be a precursor to appointed government in states that would normally be holding elections. Also, not all appointed governmen

I only said that total apathy would be a precursor to appointed government in states that would normally be holding elections. Also, not all appointed government figures are despots, there have been some relatively benevolent kingdoms in history, Tuvalu is apparently quite nice. Widespread political apathy can be a precursor to despotism as it allows a minority to seize and wield power more easily over a majority. This is arguably part of the current situation in modern Russia IMHO. As for making appointments due to voter apathy, there's the 2003 Serbian presidential election, which was canceled due to voter turnout being extremely low and so the incumbent stayed in, despite not even getting the most votes out of those that were cast; http://www.electoralgeography.com/new/en/countries/s/serbia/serbia-presidential-election-2003.html http://www.electoralgeography.com/new/en/countries/s/serbia/... And here's an example from business; "The International Game Developers Association has hand-picked five new board members after the process to elect had become void due to low turnout." http://www.develop-online.net/news/37358/IGDA-board-election-cancelled-after-low-turnout http://www.develop-online.net/news/37358/IGDA-board-election...