What role does “for reasons of parsimony and relevance” have in the last sentence? Is it a feature of “abstention”? And is “or parsimony and relevance” adjective for “reasons”? If so, then what does it mean to say a reason is of parsimony?
If we think of reasons why someone might not vote, it becomes clear that the list is long and varied and goes beyond political motivations. Some people are ill on the day of the election and are unable to get to the voting booth. Others go on holiday and forget to order a proxy vote before they leave. Some people simply forget to go to the polling station before it closes. Yet we must abandon any attempt to try to introduce these apolitical events into a model of abstention for reasons of parsimony and relevance.