Skip to main content

Recall and No Confidence

 


By the time you are reading this, it is likely that California Governor Gavin Newsom will either have survived a recall election, or will have been removed as Governor. But the timing of the election, the same day as Irish Foreign Affairs Minister Simon Coveney faces what is almost certain to be an unsuccessful motion of no confidence, and it begs the question, ‘Should Ireland have a recall process?’

For those unaware of the process, following incompetence or scandal (Governor Newsom was caught breaking his own COVID rules, sound familiar?), the minimum of 12% of the California electorate signed a petition to hold a recall election, which is composed of two parts.

Firstly will Newsom stay or go, which requires 50% approval (he was elected with 62% of the vote), and if the electorate choose for him to go, then Part II of the ballot will come into effect, who will replace him?

A motion of no confidence usually requires the government of the day to turn against one of their own, whereas a recall gives the power to the people of that representative’s constituency. The process of course could do with a little tweaking, such as a petition requirement of somewhere between 30%-50% of registered voters, and perhaps just one ballot paper presented in a by-election style format.

But rather than us all sitting at home, knowing that the Foreign Affairs Minister will face no consequences for his actions, the people of Cork could be out at the ballot box today, giving their own view on the matter. It will likely be another three years before the people decide if they want Minister Coveney representing their constituency, and even more likely to be a lot longer until there is a system to recall a political representative in Ireland, if ever.

While Newsom looks likely to escape any consequences for breaking the rules he imposed on the people of California, at least Californians have a say as to whether or not his actions justify him being removed from his position, whereas in Ireland we only get to remove our political representatives every 5 – 7 years during the election cycle.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

What's The Beef With Beef ?

The Irish Beef Industry has been going through turbulent times recently, most notably because of the proposed Mercosur deal and the prices farmers receive for their cattle. We haven't even reached Brexit yet, and are still weeks out from the latest withdrawal deadline, and beef farmers are at their wits end. But how has it got to this and can farmers cope if there is a no-deal Brexit? Farmers' incomes are under threat, not just because of the reasons outlined above, but also because of the threat to grants which keep small and medium farms in business. The recent EU elections have seen the status quo remain in the European Parliament, with parties of the right keeping their large dominance of the union. There has been some debate surrounding the EU's agricultural plan over the course of the previous five year parliament, particularly regarding the EU's farm subsidy. Now that the elections are over, the EU government could proceed with plans which could see a standard ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sinn Féin Pre-Election Analysis

  Operating off the recent in-depth RedC poll, while taking other recent polls into account, one thing is certain, Sinn Féin will have a time-machine on the top of their list to Santa if the election isn’t called before Christmas. It seems like it was only yesterday when the party was polling in the mid-30s, reaching a high of 36%, and seemed like a government in waiting if they managed to get some smaller parties and independents on board. What must have been a scramble for candidates to even get within a whiff of a majority, now some tough decisions will have to be made as to whether they will even run a second candidate in some constituencies. Keep in mind that in some constituencies where the polled well in 2020, and were polling very well in polls, such as Donegal, Cavan-Monaghan, and Louth, there were rumours of a third candidate being added in the 5-seater constituencies where they were polling close to 50% of the vote. When once there were talks of 60+ seats, now they...
Post a Comment
Read more