Hacker News new | ask | show | jobs
by espadrine 4086 days ago
There always was an issue of people being absent at the Assembly, so that concept was hard to enforce.

It is usually not that bad, though. I think the low number is due to allegiance to a party. Socialists felt like they had to vote in agreement to their party leaders to advance their careers, but to avoid backslash from the press and the public, many didn't show up. Their opposition, the right wing, always was big on tighter consumer control and surveillance. The previous president famously had speeches where he described his ambition to wash out undesirables with Kärcher, and he made some waves during his mandate as Minister of the Interior when he talked about his intention to track immigrants. Since he is still considered important in their party, I suppose many had the same dilemma and didn't come.
2 comments
higherpurpose 4086 days ago
That's unacceptable. In most other countries if a certain number of members is not reached, then you can't vote on the law. What kind of democracy is that where only 5% of the representatives vote on a certain law?

Does France have a Constitutional Court at least?

link
pikzen 4086 days ago
We have a Consitutional Council, and they're somewhat useful. They censored the "graduated riposte" part of the HADOPI law a few years back.

We do not have a Constitutional Court. The Fifth Republic was explicitly created to give more power to the government and as such abstained from creating such courts.

link
vog 4086 days ago
> What kind of democracy is that where only 5% of the representatives vote on a certain law

I'm not familar with France, but whenever that happens in Germany, they ensure that the correct proportions (regardingthe parties/fractions) are maintained.

link
mercurial 4086 days ago
> Since he is still considered important in their party

He is, in fact, the current head of the main conservative party, and will no doubt be presidential candidate in 2017.

> I suppose many had the same dilemma and didn't come.

I suspect the dilemma was more about avoiding to support the current majority too openly. As you said, nobody will mistake the UMP for a bastion of privacy and individual freedoms.

link