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The irony here is striking — an article complaining about fake news ends up spreading it itself, by claiming that von der Leyen is unelected even though she was

by 7bit 11mo ago

The irony here is striking — an article complaining about fake news ends up spreading it itself, by claiming that von der Leyen is unelected even though she was elected by the European Parliament.

sam_lowry_ 11mo ago
Ok, elected if you stretch the meaning of the word "elect" way beyond layman's common sense. War is peace.
- dragonwriter 11mo ago
  If election by vote of members of body itself elected by citizens isn't election, we need to start referring to the US President as an unelected leader. Also, prime ministers in most parliamentary systems.
  - sam_lowry_ 11mo ago
    Member states control who will be presented to the EP. As you may know European Parliament is not really a Parliament either, as it can neither enact laws nor appoint EU executives, it just approves or rejects Council proposals.
  - cardiffspaceman 11mo ago
    Some Americans do think that the Electoral College is not that democratic. I live in one of the states that belongs to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
    - dragonwriter 11mo ago
      > Some Americans do think that the Electoral College is not that democratic. "democratic" and "elected" are entirely different adjectives. The system for electing the US President is very much not democratic, and still the President is very much elected. (Though its less undemocratic than it used to be, when the electors themselves were not generally directly elected by the voters.) There are indirect elections that are reasonably demoocratic despite being indirect (the PM in some, but not all, parliamentary systems), there are elections that aren't based on anything like a general citizenry at all—e.g., Papal elections. For a leader to be elected is certainly not a sufficient condition for their position to be held democratically (it may be a necessary condition, though.)
deleted 11mo ago
[deleted]
naIak 11mo ago
The King of England was also elected. (Elected by God)
- sam_lowry_ 11mo ago
  Also Putin was "elected" with 88.48% in 2024.
StopDisinfo910 11mo ago
Technically true even if the reality is more than the head of the commission is merely confirmed by the parliament after being proposed which is to say appointed by the council. Supposedly, the council should put forward the candidate of the main party in the parliament but this has already been breached once. But the system is likely to change soon because Von Der Leyen keeps playing with fire with the prerogatives of the position and annoying the council so much that I believe a change is unavoidable.

by 7bit 11mo ago

The irony here is striking — an article complaining about fake news ends up spreading it itself, by claiming that von der Leyen is unelected even though she was elected by the European Parliament.

sam_lowry_ 11mo ago

Ok, elected if you stretch the meaning of the word "elect" way beyond layman's common sense. War is peace.

dragonwriter 11mo ago
If election by vote of members of body itself elected by citizens isn't election, we need to start referring to the US President as an unelected leader. Also, prime ministers in most parliamentary systems.
- sam_lowry_ 11mo ago
  Member states control who will be presented to the EP. As you may know European Parliament is not really a Parliament either, as it can neither enact laws nor appoint EU executives, it just approves or rejects Council proposals.
- cardiffspaceman 11mo ago
  Some Americans do think that the Electoral College is not that democratic. I live in one of the states that belongs to the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact.
  - dragonwriter 11mo ago
    > Some Americans do think that the Electoral College is not that democratic. "democratic" and "elected" are entirely different adjectives. The system for electing the US President is very much not democratic, and still the President is very much elected. (Though its less undemocratic than it used to be, when the electors themselves were not generally directly elected by the voters.) There are indirect elections that are reasonably demoocratic despite being indirect (the PM in some, but not all, parliamentary systems), there are elections that aren't based on anything like a general citizenry at all—e.g., Papal elections. For a leader to be elected is certainly not a sufficient condition for their position to be held democratically (it may be a necessary condition, though.)

deleted 11mo ago

[deleted]

naIak 11mo ago

The King of England was also elected. (Elected by God)

sam_lowry_ 11mo ago
Also Putin was "elected" with 88.48% in 2024.

StopDisinfo910 11mo ago

Technically true even if the reality is more than the head of the commission is merely confirmed by the parliament after being proposed which is to say appointed by the council. Supposedly, the council should put forward the candidate of the main party in the parliament but this has already been breached once. But the system is likely to change soon because Von Der Leyen keeps playing with fire with the prerogatives of the position and annoying the council so much that I believe a change is unavoidable.