Home » News » Letter of the day: The democratic game is taking place – News Signatures: Editorial

Letter of the day: The democratic game is taking place – News Signatures: Editorial

Grand-Saconnex, January 21 Two months before the Geneva elections, the political world shudders, the agitation around the “musical chairs” excites the spirits. It’s good, it’s desirable; the democratic game is taking place.

Each voter will be able to speak through the ballot boxes; but not in all municipalities.

Classically, each citizen receives the legislative lists, chooses his party and / or the names he wishes to have access to the proportionally allocated seat. The same is almost true for executive lists, the majority of which are allocated seats. Why “almost”?

If your municipality has more candidates than there are seats on the executive, do not harm our democratic system. The election will take place over two rounds, each citizen being able to vote in both cases. Better, a newcomer can then appear in the second round on a list deposited in the first round. Our democracy is growing out of it.

If your municipality has a number of candidates equal to the number of seats, the election becomes tacit. The citizen no longer has a say. It can neither validate nor express the slightest opinion on the choice of candidates. Their legitimacy cannot be recognized by the population.

Worse, if another candidate for the legislative elections had to “hit the nail on the head” at the end of the verdict of the ballot boxes, he could not stand in a second round, since the games would be made. Formally, many administrative councilors simply weren’t elected by citizens.

This modality cannot be comfortable either for the population or for the advisers. Our democracy comes out betrayed. Admittedly, this modification of the Constitution was validated during a vote in 2016. Does this mean that it was accepted knowingly? Nothing is less sure. This situation is however not a sight of the spirit since about twenty municipalities (out of 45) will be affected.

However, this raises a few questions: in the future, should we imagine that Alibis candidates are running to guarantee voters the democratic right to vote? Can the candidates themselves feel empowered by a default elective mission? Besides, wouldn’t they simply have the right to know their credibility with the population (and vice versa)?

Everyone of course has to answer it … for 2025; because today, in the great democratic game, the dice are thrown.

Created: 02.02.2020, 16h58

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