Because all these things (Brexit/Trump) wasn't planned to happen, so they're in need of arguments why a fair democratic vote should be invalid. This is what's happening.
What is a “fair democratic vote”? Is it still fair if it’s a simple majority? Is it still fair if official campaigns break the law? Is it still fair if constituent nations’ views are disregarded?
That concept is a hard one to define and precisely why it’s a bad idea to have simple majority referendums on complex technical matters.
I mean in a direct democracy, a simple majority of a quorum of voters typically counts. Establishing arbitrary criteria for which votes are valid is not a democracy, especially when the various criteria are suddenly proposed after a controversial election.
A vote result arising in the context of a great many voters having been persuaded by a sophisticated propaganda attack consisting of lies, misrepresentations, and half-truths, where the attack originated from a foreign power aiming to create chaos and confusion among its enemies is not a fair vote and should not be given the legitimacy that a fair vote deserves.
That’s obviously not the claim and it’s churlish to imply so.
“Fairness” in a democratic system is a pretty messy concept. A “fair” vote might require rules (like controlling spending, foreign influence, and truthfulness), it might require clear criteria and outcomes, or it might require a well-informed population.
The UK’s Brexit referendum was a perfect example of how not to run a referendum:
- Billed as advisory but clearly not
- Electoral laws broken
- Shady foreign influence
- No definition of what the outcome of one result would be
- No success criteria beyond a simple majority (like requiring consent from all constituent countries)
- A vote on an extremely technical issue poorly understood by most of the population
I imagine this will be used as a textbook example of a terrible political event for decades.
That concept is a hard one to define and precisely why it’s a bad idea to have simple majority referendums on complex technical matters.