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A Mount Allison political scientist says lacklustre campaigns and the absence of controversial issues were responsible for low voter turnout at the polls in Fredericton this week.

Despite election ads urging citizens to be heard, many Fredericton voters stayed away from the polls on election day.

Voter turnout in the capital was the worst in a decade. Only 12,868 of 38,021 eligible voters cast their ballots. That's a 33.8 per cent voting rate.

It's a substantial drop compared to the 17,002 voters who marked ballots in 2004 (44.8 per cent) and the 15,363 voters who did likewise in 2001 (44.12 per cent).

The 2004 election featured a four-way race for mayor.

Geoff Martin, a political science professor at Mount Allison University in Sackville, said there was no burning issue in Fredericton and no major contest.

"When you don't get competition, you don't get a turnout," he said.

"There's no doubt about it, these numbers are really low when a lot of numbers around the province were higher."

In Saint John, the fallout over tax concessions for a liquefied natural gas plant brought out voters, Martin said.

In Dieppe, it was the fight for more transparency and the growing burden on taxpayers in a city adopting the trappings of its newfound status.

But the relative silence out of Fredericton in recent weeks was telling.

Interest in politics often comes from discontentment, Martin said.

In Fredericton, four of the 12 wards went unchallenged.

In the end, the low turnout and low candidacy rate is tacit approval for the council's direction, he said.

The acclamations may have also served to keep people who believed Brad Woodside would return as mayor away from the voting booths.

Martin said a challenger who doesn't mount a campaign isn't

doing himself or herself or the community much of a service.

"Why would you run if you're not going to put much effort into it?"

The onus is on challengers to put forward a new vision, he said.

"If there are people not happy with the direction, it's up to them to organize," said Martin.

Coun. Marilyn Kerton, who was acclaimed in Barkers Point, said she heard from plenty of constituents who told her they wouldn't cast a vote for mayor because their polling booths had been moved to Devon.

"I'm not impressed with what happened there. I do believe voter turnout from my ward was very low, and I do believe it was because they moved the polls away."

Participation in municipal elections around the province was down. A total of 42.1 per cent of eligible voters in New Brunswick participated Monday.

That's compared to 46 per cent in 2004 and 52 per cent in 2001.