*Sigh*–it really would be nice if reporters at the NYT understood some of the basic of comparative politcs before they started reporting on things: Two Legislators Withdraw in Impatience From Fragile Shiite Coalition
Two newly elected politicians announced Friday that they were withdrawing from the fragile political alliance cobbled together by the country’s most powerful Shiite cleric, marking the first notable fracture within the alliance.The defections expose the vulnerability of the Shiite parties as they struggle to form a coalition government with other political groups, and showed the limits of the influence of Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani, the cleric who assembled the alliance. The split signaled that any talks to form a new government would probably be protracted, as rivals to the Shiites try to take advantage of weaknesses in the alliance.
A) Two legislators does not a “fracture” make.
B) Just because they say they are withdrawing now, does not mean that they will remain withdrawn. This is as likely a negotiating strategem as it is a permanent rupture.
C) Any situation with multiple parties will result in protracted coalition building, especially when a super-majority is needed to select the PM and when there are highly charged political issues for the parliament to face.
None of this should be a surprise or warrant a grim assessment from the Times’ reporter.
To put it in simple terms:
a fragmented party system
+
a 2/3rds majority requirement to pick the President and PM
+
a new democracy lacking established political norms
+
complex issues
============================================
a protracted negotiation process and much horse-trading.
Is this really that hard to understand?
So, using the logic of the NYT, the GOP was “fractured” when Jeffords went independent. Amazing how their majority keeps growing in the midst of that kind of chaos.
Comment by Matt — Saturday, March 5, 2024 @ 10:26 am
If you multiply both sides of your equation by zero, the whole problem vanishes.
Comment by John Lemon — Saturday, March 5, 2024 @ 3:07 pm