"Grace was in short supply among our liberal elected representatives, and democracy is poorer because of it That was a bad week's work. Maria Steen should have been nominated. Keeping her out was bad for politics and bad for the presidential election. It intensifies an ugly trend in Irish politics, and her absence from the election will lead to a lower turnout and a lacklustre campaign."
"That was a bad week's work. Maria Steen should have been nominated. Keeping her out was bad for politics and bad for the presidential election. It intensifies an ugly trend in Irish politics, and her absence from the election will lead to a lower turnout and a lacklustre campaign. Irish democracy just took a hit. First, let me reiterate points I've made previously about the nomination process."
Grace was scarce among liberal elected representatives, and that scarcity weakened democratic norms. Maria Steen should have received a nomination, and denying her candidacy harmed political pluralism and the quality of the presidential contest. Excluding her reinforced an ugly trend in Irish politics of gatekeeping by established actors. Her absence from the ballot is likely to reduce voter enthusiasm, lower turnout, and produce a lacklustre campaign. The nomination process contains problematic elements that require attention to ensure fairer access to candidacy and to prevent further erosion of democratic engagement and legitimacy.
Read at Independent
Unable to calculate read time
Collection
[
|
...
]