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duke_sam • today at 10:39 AM • 9 replies • view on HN

It was an amazing achievement for the students list movement to get such a diverse group of new politicians elected. I’m very curious to see how government formation without a figurehead/leader goes. Most parliamentary democracies assume you are electing a person with the knowledge/hope the party leader will be sitting in the big chair at the end. Most also put a lot of power in that person’s hands with backbenchers sidelined from the day to day running.

I really hope their success carries over into governance.


Replies

akie • today at 11:17 AM

I love that they won and I love the hope and expectation surrounding their victory but MAN have you ever SEEN a working group of 80 academics?

There's definitely a chance of failure here.

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ifwinterco • today at 11:54 AM

It simply can't work, somebody ultimately has to be in charge of a 15 person startup, it is literally impossible to run a country via committee

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Brendinooo • today at 2:23 PM

> It was an amazing achievement

Yeah, the thing that really strikes me is that their movement _did not exist_ in the last election. Went from scratch to power in three years. Whatever you want to say about their politics or their ability to lead...sure. But that's an incredible thing to do.

grafmax • today at 3:52 PM

US government organizations such as USAID and the CIA-adjacent National Endowment for "Democracy" backed this movement to the tune of millions of dollars, funding "civil society groups" and other NGOs. Yet supposedly it is spontaneous and grassroots, and we wonder how its governance will be decided.

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geraneum • today at 1:56 PM

> Most parliamentary democracies assume you are electing a person with the knowledge/hope the party leader will be sitting in the big chair at the end.

In Germany the focus is usually on the parties and not the figurehead for over 70 years now.

edit: for the election

hunterpayne • today at 1:45 PM

Fun fact: The US has only had one academic hold the presidency. He is also considered to be the worst US president in history.

Academics don't have a great track record in politics or governance pretty much anywhere at anytime in history.

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betamagel • today at 4:49 PM

Sure, b/c all over history it shows students always know what for and why they protest... /s

rightnutwingjob • today at 11:33 AM

> An electrical engineer who has helped design robots. An organic chemist who, during the pandemic, worked on COVID-19 drugs. An education researcher, a sociologist, several political scientists, economists, physicians, and medical researchers.

Diverse? Over-educated university graduates is possibly the least diverse set of thinkers one could hope to find.

> Dozens of them come from the academic world, and more than half have a Ph.D. or M.D.

Lord help up. This is going to be demonstration of hubris and an exercise in arrogance.

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