Counting the rejected votes would greatly add to the number needed for a candidate to break the 50% threshold for a first-round win and increase the prospectof a runoff due within a month.
There were also the tensions caused by Germany's reunification and the crises within the European monetary system, which raised the prospectof economic integration going into reverse.
The other factor is enlargement fatigue within the union and the public reaction against the prospectof even more countries joining the 25-member club (soon to be 27).
But McEwan, currently Scotland's most successful boxer, may soon become instantly recognisable, for there is the very real prospectof him having a world title fight within the next six to nine months.
She knows that within Kadima there are many members, ex-Likud renegades, who view without pleasure the prospectof serving the country from the opposition benches while their erstwhile Likud comrades enjoy power.