EP elections 2014

[Filuwaúrdjan]

The idea that anyone in Latvia or wherever is going to change their vote because of how people in the Netherlands voted is delusional.

[SPQR]

Juncker is beyond boring...more of the same old austerity.

Anyway,I wonder why in the EU nobody from the PES exploits the fact that Berlusconi's eurodeputies will be vital for any EPP majority...

[sirius3100]

The idea that anyone in Latvia or wherever is going to change their vote because of how people in the Netherlands voted is delusional.

I may change my vote depending on how many seats the PES gets in the UK and other countries. But exit polls will still help me with my decision.

[SPQR]

In Finland the connection to Fidesz and Berlusconi are asked every time.

Better than nothing.
(I had forgotten about Hungary,thought both super-right parties were out of EPP...)

[Tender Branson]

The idea that anyone in Latvia or wherever is going to change their vote because of how people in the Netherlands voted is delusional.

Well, maybe not in Europe because the parties are different in each country and people don't give much thought about what's happening in other countries.

But remember what happened in 2008, when Obama was announced President on the networks and many California voters went to the polls after that to "support" their new President, pushing the Obama-share above 60% ?

Now imagine if the race is close somewhere and people are voting after they heard someone winning "projected by the news" and then things turn out differently ... Total chaos.

Even if there's just a small number of people that could change their opinion based on the UK result announced earlier, I think it's still better that all results are announced at the same time.

[Bacon King]

Meanwhile, in Greece, here's the range of results from all polls released in the past two weeks:

Syriza: 25.5 to 29.6
ND: 23.5 to 28.4
XA: 6.0 to 11.5
To Potami: 8.0 to 10.9   
PASOK: 5.5 to 8.0
KKE: 4.7 to 7.5   
ANEL: 3.4 to 5.2
DIMAR: 1.8 to 3.5
others: 5.9 to 10.7

Basically, ND and Syriza fighting for first, Golden Dawn and Potomi fighting for third, PASOK and the KKE fighting for fifth.

[SPQR]

The idea that anyone in Latvia or wherever is going to change their vote because of how people in the Netherlands voted is delusional.

Well, maybe not in Europe because the parties are different in each country and people don't give much thought about what's happening in other countries.

But remember what happened in 2008, when Obama was announced President on the networks and many California voters went to the polls after that to "support" their new President, pushing the Obama-share above 60% ?

Now imagine if the race is close somewhere and people are voting after they heard someone winning "projected by the news" and then things turn out differently ... Total chaos.

Even if there's just a small number of people that could change their opinion based on the UK result announced earlier, I think it's still better that all results are announced at the same time.

The ridicolous thing was allowing differentiated voting in the first place...

[Tetro Kornbluth]

The idea that anyone in Latvia or wherever is going to change their vote because of how people in the Netherlands voted is delusional.

Well, maybe not in Europe because the parties are different in each country and people don't give much thought about what's happening in other countries.

But remember what happened in 2008, when Obama was announced President on the networks and many California voters went to the polls after that to "support" their new President, pushing the Obama-share above 60% ?

Now imagine if the race is close somewhere and people are voting after they heard someone winning "projected by the news" and then things turn out differently ... Total chaos.

Even if there's just a small number of people that could change their opinion based on the UK result announced earlier, I think it's still better that all results are announced at the same time.

Perhaps but in the context of the election(s) we are referring to in this thread this is a fallacy as it based on the notion that someone somewhere actually cares.

[EPG]

Can this story be correct? The elections are run by national governing bodies in each country.

The European Union would jump up and down if an aid-recipient country in Africa sat on ballot boxes for three days, but I guess it's OK for the old imperialists.

There's no reason why all the EP seats should even be elected on the same day. It's most comparable as a legislature to regionally-rotating bodies like the Bundesrat or the United States Senate. It doesn't elect a government on its own initiative, even by convention, and its majority is largely notional.

It's simply an effort by the Commission to force more artificial unity on a diverse continent.

[Filuwaúrdjan]

Increasingly I think that it would be better if the European Parliament went back to indirect elections. For one thing would actually have more clout.

[EPG]

An indirectly-elected European Parliament? Interesting.

It used to be that members would be elected by the same majorities that elected governments which comprised the European Council and the Council of the EU and which chose the European Commission. MEPs were accountable to national political parties, whereas they are currently accountable to national citizens, theoretically in their capacity as European citizens. So it would be less EU-minded even than the current system.

The dual mandate would have reduced the incentive of MEPs to challenge the Councils or Commission, since they would be implicitly challenging people with a large degree of influence over their election, and it limited the time allocated to European Parliament business. I cannot think of how it would increase the Parliament's power?

[SPQR]

Indirectly-elected European Parliament?
What a nice way to tackle the issue of accountability concerning the EU!

[Filuwaúrdjan]

I'm only half serious. But it isn't as though the current setup is working. Unless you're on the gravy train, obviously.

[EPG]

To work, the Parliament needs more powers than anyone will give it, governments or voters alike. So it is a matter, as so often, of choosing the best way to fail...

[EPG]

Ireland is running local elections in 6-10 seat STV constituencies, so count staff will have plenty of work to do before, and after, the European votes get counted.

[doktorb]

Unless and until voters in, say, Ireland have exactly the same ballot papers as those in Latvia, I'd say this worry is complete balderdash.

[🦀🎂🦀🎂]

I think the upper house should be indirectly elected. Make it a few representatives of each member states legislature.

In the lower house I'd just force STV to promote individuals on everyone (so people might actually know the names of their MEP) and promote pan-European parties so people don't just punish S&D because they hate their Labour government, for example.

[EPG]

It's always going to be a second-order election (i.e. used to punish the government) as long as the European Parliament doesn't do anything important and comprehensible to people's lives. Give the Parliament an army and taxes and people might care, but nobody bar Guy wants that.

[Tender Branson]

Another poll today (Gallup):



NEOS loses 2% since their last poll.

Why ?

NEOS got clobbered the past week by SPÖ, ÖVP, FPÖ and Greens because NEOS has spoken out in favour of 2 really unpopular things:

* public water and waste management privatisation

* A European army, in which Austria dissolves it's own army that is then integrated into this European army system. Angelika Mlinar (NEOS-frontrunner) said (quite snobby) when asked who would be responsible for severe natural disasters: "Well, the firebrigade would need to do this alone."

Of course this will not be winning issues with Austrians, who strongly favour their army to help out when there are natural disasters.

Also, water privatisation is a big no-go, mostly because Austrians are happy with the way things are and don't want their water to be sold to foreign companies or want worse quality. The other parties quickly pointed out what would happen if water is privatized, saying that already happened in the UK, resulting in shi*ty water quality and high water prices (for UK posters, is this somehow accurate ?) ...

[EPG]

It completely depends - State-provided water quality in Ireland is mediocre, because the government doesn't invest money in supply, because it's ultimately not an electoral priority for any voter.

[freek]

I'd fully expect the UK, rather than the Netherlands, to publish their results in advance this time around, just to... troll the Commission, you know.

Dutch weblog GeenStijl started a campaign where people could apply to monitor the count in their local polling station, since polling stations by law have to announce their counting result after the count has finished, i.e. Thursday night.

The weblog intends to publish all these results directly after receiving them.

I have thought about applying, but I noticed that someone else already for applied for the polling station where I am volunteering during the day. I hope he/she turns up, it would be the first time in 5 years to have an observer during the count.

About 1,000 volunteers have already applied (there are ~10,000 polling stations).

http://www.geenstijl.nl/eu2014/map/

[Keystone Phil]

[SPQR]

Pathetic and false.
What to expect from former (?) fascists?

[Keystone Phil]

Pathetic and false.
What to expect from former (?) fascists?

The Alfano version was even more disturbing.

[justfollowingtheelections]

That's so stupid.  Renzi is if anything the anti-Merkel.

The only solution for the EU elections to become relevant is to have european parties on the ballots instead of national parties and the same election system in all countries.