diff --git a/xslt/epub2i5.xsl b/xslt/epub2i5.xsl
index 23f452a..b72c1c4 100644
--- a/xslt/epub2i5.xsl
+++ b/xslt/epub2i5.xsl
@@ -439,11 +439,13 @@
     </xsl:template>
 
     <xsl:template match="xhtml:body/xhtml:a">
-        <p>
-            <ref target="{@href}">
-                <xsl:apply-templates />
-            </ref>
-        </p>
+        <xsl:if test="normalize-space(.)">
+            <p>
+                <ref target="{@href}">
+                    <xsl:apply-templates />
+                </ref>
+            </p>
+        </xsl:if>
     </xsl:template>
 
      <xsl:template match="xhtml:body/xhtml:span">
@@ -463,9 +465,11 @@
         <xsl:value-of select="."/>
     </xsl:template>
     <xsl:template match="xhtml:a">
-        <ref target="{@href}">
-            <xsl:apply-templates />
-        </ref>
+        <xsl:if test="normalize-space(.)">
+            <ref target="{@href}">
+                <xsl:apply-templates />
+            </ref>
+        </xsl:if>
     </xsl:template>
 
     <xsl:template match="xhtml:br"/>
diff --git a/xslt/pass2.xsl b/xslt/pass2.xsl
index 9aef8ca..49af02f 100644
--- a/xslt/pass2.xsl
+++ b/xslt/pass2.xsl
@@ -9,14 +9,17 @@
 
     <xsl:mode on-no-match="shallow-copy"/>
 
+    <xsl:template match="p[not(normalize-space())]" priority="1.0"/>
 
-    <xsl:template match="p[descendant::div|descendant::p]" priority="1.0">
+    <xsl:template match="div[not(normalize-space())]" priority="1.0"/>
+
+    <xsl:template match="p[descendant::div|descendant::p]" priority="0.9">
         <div type="section">
             <xsl:apply-templates/>
         </div>
     </xsl:template>
 
-    <xsl:template match="(ref|emph|hi|text())[parent::div]" priority="1.0">
+    <xsl:template match="(ref|emph|hi|text())[parent::div]" priority="0.9">
         <p>
             <xsl:apply-templates/>
         </p>