The quote Vote early, vote often! attributed to former Chicago mayor Daley became a must for our title after the editor-in-chief of the big German weekly Die Zeit went public on television on election day, saying he voted twice.
Twice, as in this election, not twice over his lifetime or in the past decade.
Being both an Italian and a German citizen, the newsman received two voting notifications for the EU Parliament vote and decided it would be a waste to only pursue one vote.
Some sore loser party went to the local DA and Mr. D. is now under investigation for voter fraud.
What other surprises did the EU vote bring?
None, really.
Sure, there was the big win of the right Front National in France and Britain was ukipped. None of which is a huge deal, let's be honest. At least that is the message you'd get from the European stock market and the currency exchange rates.
Isn't it true? France is in bad enough shape that the Front National will have to mess up big time to make it any worse - if they manage to take over government a few years from now.
UKIP, has UK written all over it, and the anti-EU message works well for them. So, they may replace the Lib Dems, again, what's the big deal?
An anti-EU message not a future proof party maketh. Does the prospect of having to re-invent the central belief of your platform in a few years not cause any concern?
Meanwhile in the rest of the European Union: the good showing of "the right" is being used to appeal for closer cooperation of the centrist forces.
In the German media, you can find statements that define "the middle" as the conservative CDU/CSU block plus the social democrat SDP plus the greens
Never mind that the current government in Berlin has an 80% majority (CDU/CSU plus SPD). Bring the greens into the fold as a silent partner? Only in the EU parliament, they say.
The EU election is nearly perfect in the current overall climate.
It is good for business if the markets are to be believed. It is good for clawing back political powers you may never have given up to Brussels in the first place.
Everybody wins, except for the guy who voted twice.
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