| 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. |