diff --git a/contrib/lisp/org-element.el b/contrib/lisp/org-element.el
index 8912d6ab6..8b38a54b3 100644
--- a/contrib/lisp/org-element.el
+++ b/contrib/lisp/org-element.el
@@ -3592,7 +3592,9 @@ indentation is not done with TAB characters."
                (cond
                 ((stringp object)
                  (let ((start 0))
-                   (while (string-match "\n\\( *\\)" object start)
+		   ;; Avoid matching blank or empty lines.
+                   (while (and (string-match "\n\\( *\\)\\(.\\)" object start)
+			       (not (equal (match-string 2 object) " ")))
                      (setq start (match-end 0))
                      (push (length (match-string 1 object)) ind-list))))
                 ((memq (org-element-type object) org-element-recursive-objects)
@@ -3624,7 +3626,8 @@ indentation is not done with TAB characters."
 		     ((stringp object)
 		      (replace-regexp-in-string
 		       (format "\n \\{%d\\}" mci) "\n" object))
-		     ((memq (org-element-type object) org-element-recursive-objects)
+		     ((memq (org-element-type object)
+			    org-element-recursive-objects)
 		      (funcall build object mci first-flag))
 		     (t object)))
 		  (org-element-contents blob)))))))
diff --git a/testing/lisp/test-org-element.el b/testing/lisp/test-org-element.el
index 8c7f4a7bc..4e184c981 100644
--- a/testing/lisp/test-org-element.el
+++ b/testing/lisp/test-org-element.el
@@ -313,15 +313,7 @@ Paragraph \\alpha."
 				 nil
 				 'first-match)))
       (should (stringp (org-element-property :tag item)))))
-  ;; 1.3. Test with `verse-block' type.
-  (org-test-with-temp-text "#+BEGIN_VERSE\nTest\n#+END_VERSE"
-    (let ((verse-block (org-element-map (org-element-parse-buffer 'element)
-					'verse-block
-					'identity
-					nil
-					'first-match)))
-      (should (stringp (org-element-property :value verse-block)))))
-  ;; 1.4. Test with `inlinetask' type, if avalaible.
+  ;; 1.3. Test with `inlinetask' type, if avalaible.
   (when (featurep 'org-inlinetask)
     (let ((org-inlinetask-min-level 15))
       (org-test-with-temp-text "*************** Inlinetask"
@@ -376,6 +368,45 @@ Paragraph \\alpha."
     "#+CAPTION[short]: long\nParagraph\n")))
 
 
+
+;;;; Normalize contents
+
+(ert-deftest test-org-element/normalize-contents ()
+  "Test `org-element-normalize-contents' specifications."
+  ;; 1. Remove maximum common indentation from element's contents.
+  (should
+   (equal
+    (org-element-normalize-contents
+     '(paragraph nil "  Two spaces\n   Three spaces"))
+    '(paragraph nil "Two spaces\n Three spaces")))
+  ;; 2. Ignore objects within contents when computing maximum common
+  ;;    indentation.
+  (should
+   (equal
+    (org-element-normalize-contents
+     '(paragraph nil " One " (emphasis nil "space") "\n  Two spaces"))
+    '(paragraph nil "One " (emphasis nil "space") "\n Two spaces")))
+  ;; 3. Ignore blank lines.
+  (should
+   (equal
+    (org-element-normalize-contents
+     '(paragraph nil "  Two spaces\n\n \n  Two spaces"))
+    '(paragraph nil "Two spaces\n\n \nTwo spaces")))
+  ;; 4. Recursively enter objects in order to compute common
+  ;;    indentation.
+  (should
+   (equal
+    (org-element-normalize-contents
+     '(paragraph nil "  Two spaces " (emphasis nil " and\n One space")))
+    '(paragraph nil " Two spaces " (emphasis nil " and\nOne space"))))
+  ;; 5. When optional argument is provided, ignore first line
+  ;;    indentation.
+  (should
+   (equal
+    (org-element-normalize-contents
+     '(paragraph nil "No space\n  Two spaces\n   Three spaces") t)
+    '(paragraph nil "No space\nTwo spaces\n Three spaces"))))
+
 
 ;;;; Navigation tools.