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by akho 1737 days ago
You either believe that this regulation makes sense, or you don’t. France, apparently, is in a situation where nobody cares enough to enforce, but taking the law off the books is not politically feasible. I do not know whether that’s a good thing.

As a Russian: the election has a limited relevance beyond a certain type of signaling. The majority of United Russia is largely guaranteed by the “electoral sultanates”, so votes cast now will not impact new legislation over the next five years.

If your purpose is to signal things, being morally clean is more important than the number of votes you manage to achieve. If a law is reasonable, and a norm in multiple other well-regarded systems, it makes sense to comply.
2 comments
BrandoElFollito 1737 days ago
> France, apparently, is in a situation where nobody cares enough to enforce

It is strictly enforced in France. But Internet knows no borders so the statistics of votes (which is is illegal to provide in France during the voting day) are available outside of France (usually in French speaking Belgian / Swiss online newspapers, or Twitter/FB/...).

My point is that a country cannot expect that other countries (and services in these countries) will follow their rules.

> If your purpose is to signal things, being morally clean is more important than the number of votes you manage to achieve. If a law is reasonable, and a norm in multiple other well-regarded systems, it makes sense to comply.

I am not sure I understand that point.

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akho 1737 days ago
> It is strictly enforced in France

It’s not strictly enforced. Exit polls published outside France are collected inside France. Those who collect with clear intent to immediately publish are subject to French law, and may be fined. Which, from what you are saying, does not happen.

> I am not sure I understand that point

I am not sure how to explain it better. You should not both demand lawful election and circumvent electoral laws at the same time. You can, and people do, but it’s not a strong position.

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BrandoElFollito 1736 days ago
> Those who collect with clear intent to immediately publish are subject to French law, and may be fined

Exit polls are legal. Publishing them is not. They are published by non-French entities, which cannot be fined because of some internal law of ours.

> You should not both demand lawful election and circumvent electoral laws at the same time. You can, and people do, but it’s not a strong position

The rules are from the times where information was provided by printed newspapers, radio and TV. It is time to realize that we are in a different world and adapt.

If we allow foreign newspapers to publish data (because we cannot forbid that), we should give an equal chance to the French ones.

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thriftwy 1737 days ago
It could still allow for a few independent-ish senators via single mandate district system. If it is allowed to run fairly at least in some locales.

Source: observing one.

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akho 1737 days ago
Sure. How does this relate to the very late publishing of lists? Or to complying with “silent days”?
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thriftwy 1736 days ago
It doesn't. Merely a comment towards the state of electoral affairs.
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