Professional gobshite Nigel Farage has condemned the election of Ursula von der Leyen as EU Commission President. He thinks that gaining the support of 52% of the electorate is insufficient.
“52% of the vote isn’t enough to elect the captain of a minor golf club!” seethed the mouthy mudslinger. “This vote has no legitimacy whatsoever!”
Translation: I don’t like this result.
Conversely, what about Brexit? After all, 52% of the electorate chose it. “The People voted for this!” said the jocular jackass on many, many occasions. “This is a mandate for the hardest Brexit imaginable, so hard it can cut diamonds. Anything else is a betrayal of democracy!”
Translation: I like this result.
“Do the maths!” thundered the self-appointed upholder of whatever form of democracy suits his own ends. “Von der Leyen only won by 9 votes. Brexit won by over a million votes. It’s a huge difference!”
So we did the maths. If you include the entire electorate in both cases, von der Leyen received 52% of the vote, including abstentions. On the same basis, Brexit received 37%. Even Numerate Nigel can’t argue that 37% has more legitimacy than 52%.
“You are twisting the facts to suit your narrative!” squealed the pompous populist. “That’s my job, not yours! You so-called experts, countering my blithering bluster with reasoned argument! It’s simply not on. The fact remains that Brexit is perfectly legitimate and von der Leyen is not!”
Translation: You shot down my argument in flames, so I’m just going to repeat what I want you to hear over and over until you give up.
It’s very strange, for someone so concerned with the legitimacy of a democratic vote, that Farage has been silent about the underhand methods used to manipulate the British electorate in the run up to the referendum. He has said nothing about data mining, dark money, undeclared donations or foreign interference, yet he gets very upset over a fair and transparent election.
Translation: You lost. Get over it!