# [[Elections Are Not Fair]] #Politics #Democracy #Paradox #Opinion Someone asked: Considering Lebanon's political situation, I am highly skeptical of the legitimacy of the elections. Are there any evidence that lead you to believe that the elections are not free or fair? My answer: Elections, by nature, are not fair. Even in a best scenario where the process itself is fair (Election mechanisms can be designed to achieve a certain result), elections can be manipulated legally using promotional expenditure, clout, false promises, and emotional manipulation. This is an interesting video on how elections can be "legally rigged": [The flaw in every voting system (youtube.com)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rbVoEjS6Q1Q&list=PLyBxJpGPgJZHVJbO_06cpwoRQYj6xYUo3&index=16) .. it is purely theoretical and mathematical, nothing about conspiracies and value systems. One would assume elections are simple. Gather people and have them pick. But in practice, you will find that every country has its own versions of election frameworks that generally benefit the people who currently hold the power. Plus, as you can see from most democratic systems around the world, people often end up with leaders that are voted in with a 0.1% advantage. Let's say Choice 1 wins at 50.5% against Choice 2 who got 49.5% .. in reality, this means that half of the population isn't happy with the result. Look at the USA as the world's prime example of democracy. Their next presidential elections are in November, and the competition has already been funneled down to Trump vs Biden .. but, if you ask Americans (not reddit fanatics), a striking majority will tell you they don't want either, or that both are bad choices, but if they have to pick, they will pick X. Which is ironic. But this is what happens when picking leadership becomes purely a numbers game. Plus, democratic systems eventually always become polarized, you can already see that in most current democracies. PS - I am not advocating for autocratic and authoritarian systems. Governance and leadership are humanity-scale challenges, and it's naive to think that we figured out how to do it best, especially with a world consisting of 8 billion humans and massive economies that are interconnected unlike ever before in history. India ALONE now has more people than the whole world had only a 100 years ago. The same with China. It's not a simple task figuring out who are the few people who should lead a nation even as small as a few million people. I think that over the next decade the world will innovate and experiment with new forms of leadership and governance. > [!multi-column] > >>[!seealso] Related Thoughts >>- [[Democracy is Bad]] >>- [[Autocracy, Democracy Same But Different]] >>- [[The Fall of Democracy and Capitalism]] >>- [[Democracy = Systemized Autocracy]] > >> [!idea] Related Videos >>[[▶️ The flaw in every voting system]] <br> >>[[▶️ The Rules for Rulers]] Published: May 04, 2024