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European Parliament Elections 2014 |OT| The Undemocratic EU is Actually Elected

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Probably the same reason I can vote without any form of ID

Wait, what?
Dw_what.gif


I mean I know the UK has no IDs but I could just walk in and if I know the name of someone local who is registered I can just vote as him if I get in early enough?
 

Dougald

Member
Wait, what?
Dw_what.gif


I mean I know the UK has no IDs but I could just walk in and if I know the name of someone local who is registered I can just vote as him if I get in early enough?

Yep. You get a polling card but that's just to help the staff. All you need to give is your name and address
 

Kabouter

Member
Do you always vote on Thursdays?
It's always Sunday in Germany, and that seems more sensible to me as most people will be off work and have time.
Sunday = rest day. Every Christian party would protest Sunday voting heavily. I generally get the sense that Sunday rest is a lot more of an issue in NL than it is in most other Christian countries.

Does this tradition of a week day voting work in terms of turnout?

They have polling booths at train stations at the like which probably helps.
 
A worrying number of colleagues on Facebook have been vocally supportive of UKIP. Even worse, they only seem to know or care about the EU issue. As soon as I mention things like their plan for a 25-30% flat rate on income tax, the various reactions are always "WTF? Are you sure?"

It's horrific that a party can campaign so heavily on one issue that their supporters aren't even aware they want to raise taxes for the poorest and cut taxes for the richest.

On the plus side, loads of people my age I knew from school and college are proudly jumping on the anti-UKIP wagon, so it seems like my little section of my generation isn't as politically apathetic as others might fear.
 
Tbh I have never had to show my ID in Germany when voting. I just show my polling card that I received by mail and that's it. I don't see much risk there of abuse there, though. Everyone gets his polling card like 4 or 6 weeks prior to the elections, so people would probably call their local MPs etc. should they not get them.
 

level44

Member
Why are UKIP bad? Serious question. I have no idea about any of this and don't want to wade through tons of information.

Is it just because the want to stop immigration?
 

Dougald

Member
Why are UKIP bad? Serious question. I have no idea about any of this and don't want to wade through tons of information.

Is it just because the want to stop immigration?

Racism, Xenophobia, record of never bothering to vote on EU Parliament legislation (but then moaning about it), not having any real defined policies beyond "leave the EU", take your pick. Shame really because though I am pro EU, we really should have a competent euro-skeptic party in the UK that does more than moan about Europe every few years, then sit back and cash their MEP paycheques
 

norinrad

Member
Nice to hear what us in Eastern and Southern Europe have know all along. There is no point in voting.

hahaha i voted for the pirates. Got up this morning and figured i may as well vote since its across the street from me. I would probably has stayed in bed if the pirate party was not on the list. I hope they sneak into that shit hole called Brussels.

Go and vote for the pirates :p
 
Why are UKIP bad? Serious question. I have no idea about any of this and don't want to wade through tons of information.

Is it just because the want to stop immigration?

Their members, councilors and MEP candidates have frequently made statements that flirt with racism, homophobia and other forms of bigotry.

Their EU policy is contentious. Plenty of people make the argument that the UK benefits a huge amount of being a member of the EU, and UKIP want us out of it entirely. However, they also want to get voted into the EU Parliament, and essentially get paid to be as disruptive to the entire process as possible. They also sit with MEPs from other countries who have exhibited rather worrying fascist tendencies.

Their domestic policies are also not very well defined, and incredibly right wing. They want to implement a flat tax rate, rather than a progressive one, which would mean a tax rise for the poorest and a tax cut for the richest.

They're the party for people who think the Tories have gone too left wing, which says it all really.
 

Dougald

Member
Done, voted, polling station totally empty

No UKIP campaigners out front, I live in an area that consists mostly of retired blue-blooded conservatives and third-generation Asian families, so maybe they wisely decided to fuck off. Just two little old ladies having a cup of tea outside the church, so instead of my usual "go away" they just got a "no" from me.



I get the feeling the anti-EU vote might be a bit split here anyway. There were about 20 parties on the sheet, about 10 being anti EU in some form.
 

Ieu

Member
Honestly I wasn't going to vote but then a client called up and said how he was going to vote UKIP I knew that I had to vote for another party otherwise they'd get in.
 
I'll ask again.
Why on earth is even that legal?
What possible justification is there?

Well, they're on public land asking people to voluntarily give them information. How would you make it illegal? It's usually a few old women, usually of different parties, standing around together having a natter, in my experience.
 

Dougald

Member
Well, they're on public land asking people to voluntarily give them information. How would you make it illegal? It's usually a few old women, usually of different parties, standing around together having a natter, in my experience.

Even after my grumpy "no" today, I still got a cheery "Thanks for Voting"

Its hard to stay angry at a couple of OAPs having a cuppa
 
A worrying number of colleagues on Facebook have been vocally supportive of UKIP. Even worse, they only seem to know or care about the EU issue. As soon as I mention things like their plan for a 25-30% flat rate on income tax, the various reactions are always "WTF? Are you sure?"

It's horrific that a party can campaign so heavily on one issue that their supporters aren't even aware they want to raise taxes for the poorest and cut taxes for the richest.

On the plus side, loads of people my age I knew from school and college are proudly jumping on the anti-UKIP wagon, so it seems like my little section of my generation isn't as politically apathetic as others might fear.

In fairness, these are the European elections. Being uninformed isn't good, but it's not like UKIP are going to campaign for election to the European parliament based on a domestic policy set by a different parliament.
 

Lucifon

Junior Member
Why are UKIP bad? Serious question. I have no idea about any of this and don't want to wade through tons of information.

Is it just because the want to stop immigration?


But then The Guardian have their own political allegiances so it's difficult to take any media organisation's word for any of this stuff. It's all so clouded by bias at every turn. If you're going to vote then the best advice is to just listen to what each party has to say for themselves, then vote based on that; ignore all form of media/articles when it comes to politics.
 

Dougald

Member
But then The Guardian have their own political allegiances so it's difficult to take any media organisation's word for any of this stuff. It's all so clouded by bias at every turn. If you're going to vote then the best advice is to just listen to what each party has to say for themselves, then vote based on that; ignore all form of media/articles when it comes to politics.

I'd say their policies speak for themselves, but you are right in that every Newspaper in the UK is politically biased in some fashion, so to base your viewpoint on what you read in any single one of them is not a good idea
 

kitch9

Banned
Why are UKIP bad? Serious question. I have no idea about any of this and don't want to wade through tons of information.

Is it just because the want to stop immigration?

Their basic argument does make sense, unfortunately the idiots trying to make their argument have no sense.
 
However, they also want to get voted into the EU Parliament, and essentially get paid to be as disruptive to the entire process as possible.

This is extremly stupid argument to use against Eurosceptics.

When an organisation you don't like have a power to change your life without you consent then you can't ignore it existance.

Being there is best way to block legislation you don't want.
 

Dougald

Member
This is extremly stupid argument to use against Eurosceptics.

When an organisation you don't like have a power to change your life without you consent then you can't ignore it existance.

Being there is best way to block legislation you don't want.

Which is why we need a real Euro-skeptic party, not one that doesn't bother to vote on most legislation, and almost exclusively votes "no" on any issue that they accidentally find themselves in a vote for, without regard as to how it will affect their constituents. In my opinion all UKIP does is reduce Britains voice in the European Parliament by having a large voting bloc that doesn't bother to represent the UK. Which I suppose fits their argument that the EU is eroding Britains voice quite nicely.
 

hat_hair

Member
For anyone asking about the lack of ID at UK polling stations, we have a process if someone shows up but the list shows them as having voted. They can be issued what is known as a tendered vote, which is then sealed and only opened on the orders of a judge, typically in a close election or accusations of fraud. This vote can then replace the previous vote.
 

Sylver

Banned
I think we -Spain- will reach 65 or 70% abstention, but well what to do, not vote, vote Pirate party or Escaños en Blanco (Emptiness legislative seat party).

I hope extremists and weird parties fill EU parliament.
 
I think we -Spain- will reach 65 or 70% abstention, but well what to do, not vote, vote Pirate party or Escaños en Blanco (Emptiness legislative seat party).

I hope extremists and weird parties fill EU parliament.
They won't to a degree as to stop the EP from functioning and by supporting that you will just ensure that the current course is kept, without offering doable alternatives.

look at the current estimates.
Last Europe wide projections from 3 days ago
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For the greater good S&D, green/EFA, ALDE and EPP will work together and force through legislation.
Now take as an example the policy of deficit reduction, if you want that to be handled less neo-liberal as in the past and more social in the future you have to try and increase the share of S&D and greens in that grand coalition otherwise ALDE and EPP will push through their agenda of more austerity. By voting for fringe anti establishment parties all you're doing is helping the neo-liberals with their cause.
 
Just voted. Always happy to do my democratic duty.
Funny thing here. Although the EU wants to release the results on sunday, we might already know the Dutch results later this night. By law, couting the votes must be a public event. So folks came up with the idea to send people (they could sign up online) to all polling stations, to be there when they count and announce the results. The EU has already asked questions about this, but it's all completely lawful.
 

Jasup

Member
After this election's done I'll have to take another break from politics for a while. I'm already having nightmares about campaining, posters and political debates due to stress, it's not helped by the rampant last minute plans and demands by the candidates and their supporters as the last minute panic kicks in. The election day's on sunday!


OuluGAF - If you're voting in Rajakylä on sunday, I'll see you there. (I chair that district)
 

Copons

Member
lol Italian politics.

Well this pretty much sums up what's happening here in the good ol' Bel Paese.

Being in a constant internal turmoil, pulled apart from three different parties, for us these elections are basically going to be a way to score points against each others. I guess a huge majority of voters, me included, doesn't really know neither what's going on in the EU Parliament, nor even why these elections matters.
We're at the abberation that if one opposition party will gain more votes than the government one (and it's very much likely), they said that they're going for a kind-of-soft-coup-d'etat. WTF? Does it make any sense? Do they even know that these are not interal elections?

Guys, why don't you just throw us out of EU once and for all? How do you even tolerate a sub-civilized country like us? :'(
 
I went and voted by naming an address I don't even live at anymore, without showing any proof that I was who I was claiming. I think I probably could have gone in another 3 times with my old housemates names and been fine (I could see they hadn't been crossed off).

Now whilst it was probably technically electoral fraud, I still live in the same constituency so it's not like it actually matters.
 

Jasup

Member
Well this pretty much sums up what's happening here in the good ol' Bel Paese.

Being in a constant internal turmoil, pulled apart from three different parties, for us these elections are basically going to be a way to score points against each others. I guess a huge majority of voters, me included, doesn't really know neither what's going on in the EU Parliament, nor even why these elections matters.
We're at the abberation that if one opposition party will gain more votes than the government one (and it's very much likely), they said that they're going for a kind-of-soft-coup-d'etat. WTF? Does it make any sense? Do they even know that these are not interal elections?

Guys, why don't you just throw us out of EU once and for all? How do you even tolerate a sub-civilized country like us? :'(

Short answer. The European Parliament represents the citizens of the EU and their will as to what EU will represent and what kind of policies will be adopted. Member states are part of the EU and in many areas their legislation is subordinate to the will of the parliament, or to be more exact the citizens.
 

Zeekaas

Member
First exit polls in the Netherlands report a win for pro-european parties D66 (Democrats 66) and CDA (Christen Democratic Appeal). Though CDA lost a bit in comparison with 2009.

Biggest and most important loser is the anti-european PVV (Freedom party)
 

Jasup

Member
Hurr hurr hurr. Those'll be the same citizens that voted for their national legislature? They're subordinate to themselves?

In some areas of legislature the will of the EU citizens as a whole weigh more than the will of citizens of the member states, in other areas it's the opposite.

For example no EU member country can opt out of any tenet of the European Convention on Human Rights, even if their citizens wanted it. But on the other hand, they can freely decide how the education system is organized and the EU has no say in it.


And also, if the power doesn't belong to the people who does it belong to?
 
Biggest and most important loser is the anti-european PVV (Freedom party)

FN, UKIP, FPÖ, PVV on top in their respective countries is nightmare fuel for me....

I think that remains to be seen. Exit polls can be very unreliable. People often aren't willing to admit they voted for a far-right wing party.

In Germany exit polls are done in secret too, to avoid that.
Its just like having a second voting booth on the way out in a few select voting stations across the country.
 

Eoin

Member
Voted Greens.

UKIP are going to romp. Which is about as depressing as it gets.
Same here.
Wait, what?


I mean I know the UK has no IDs but I could just walk in and if I know the name of someone local who is registered I can just vote as him if I get in early enough?
It's better as we have no national IDs. I personally also have no driving license or passport and while I may be in the minority I'm not alone. Voter disfranchisement in order to combat a non existent voter fraud problem at the polling stations would be dumb.
 
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