Final Word from Thursday, August 7, 2014
Something just isn't right about this ČSSD referendum, which was deemed a great success yesterday by ČSSD Chair Bohuslav Sobotka. Even if we overlook the question of whether gender rigging is desirable in a democracy, there is still the question of who will do the rigging. According to Referendum Question No. 1, party members will make the final decision about candidate lists by voting in primary elections. This sounds reasonable enough, but Question No. 2 states that at least 40% of the final candidates for regional and parliamentary elections must be women. Doesn't Sobotka realize that these are potentially mutually exclusive? The ČSSD members might vote for 75% men in the primaries, but the statutes allow only 60% of the final candidates to be men. How, in this case, will ČSSD avoid violating one of the referendum questions? Or is the plan to require some of the male candidates to undergo sex-change operations? [Czech Republic transgender internal]
Glossary of difficult words
to rig - to manage or conduct something fraudulently so as to produce a result that is advantageous to a particular person; to fit out with equipment;
to deem - to regard or consider in a specified way;
mutually exclusive - (of two events) not being able to occur at the same time.