European Parliament Election: May 23-26, 2019

[Farmlands]

I am really rooting for Fidesz to be kicked off the group. Not only is it the right thing to do, to such an authoritarian party, but it would also keep the EPP further away from the harmful far-right rhetoric that has infected Europe recently.

[Farmlands]

Of course the United Kingdom is going to send some right-wing populist loons to the European Parliament as a lovely parting gift, as if the ideology still makes any logical sense in the country given the last two years. I hope they're out of the EU by the next election, which I now can see not happening honestly.

[Farmlands]

Only three people below 65 years of age in my polling station, which were me, my mother and another university student. Seriously hoping it is because the rest of the voting population was still sleeping and that youth abstention isn't in the house of the 80s again. Oporto by the way.

[Farmlands]

The Spitzenkandidat system was never going to work out as intended whenever serious coalition building was involved. It would have been more undemocratic to impose Weber when he has the backing of less than a quarter of the parliament. Parliamentary systems in any country involve negotiations between parties when no one has an absolute majority (except in Canada, because Canada is weird and f**ked up).

That doesn't mean it's worthless. It's still good to have a general "first offer" to see where a party stands. And sometime one of them might actually be selected if they're accepted to the coalition partners. That is, again, how normal parliamentary systems work.

What the hell, I tend to be a pretty informed voter and I heard nothing about this process in Portugal, only the programs and stakes for the national parties. The EU has a real problem with communications, it won't be seen as trying to be more democratic in plenty of countries continuing like this.