News
29 January 2014
PRESS RELEASE: Ska Keller and José Bové will lead the Greens in their European campaign
Ska Keller (Germany) and José Bové (France) have been selected to lead the Greens in their upcoming European campaign. The two are the winners of the historic Green Primary, the first ever Europe-wide open online process to select leading candidates for the European elections. Ska Keller and José Bové will be the figureheads of the third common Green European campaign, and lead the united Green parties of Europe in spreading the message that we can and will bring the change that EU so desperately needs.
Commenting on the occasion José Bové said:
“I am honoured to have been appointed as one of the leading candidates of the European Green campaign as a result of the Green Primary. I will lead this campaign to defend a Europe that protects women and men from the globalisation that is destroying jobs and the environment. I am committed to a Europe that shares the often-threatened values of democracy, solidarity and human rights. A Europe that can turn its back on the social and ecological economic crises, by pushing for the Green New Deal with an appropriate budget. More than ever, for me Europe in 2014 represents a subversive and pragmatic dream to leave nationalism and selfishness behind. We need more Europe. We need more of a better Europe.”
Ska Keller added:
“I’m looking forward to an enthusiastic election campaign, for the whole of the European Union. It will be our task as top candidates to bring a European dimension to the national Green campaigns. I hope and I’m sure that we can keep the enthusiasm and motivation that I have experienced during the Green Primary going. In our campaign, we Greens will be clear about what our Green alternatives are for Europe: a fair and Green way out of the crisis, putting youth unemployment on the top of the agenda, protecting the rights of refugees and migrants, fair trade not free trade, more ambitious climate targets, and more democracy. I want to thank all those who supported me, as well as the other contenders from whom I learnt a great deal.”
The Green Primary closed at 18h00 yesterday. For the last two and a half months, voters in every single EU member state have taken part in this unique e-democracy project. Green leading candidates Ska Keller and José Bové, along with Monica Frassoni and Rebecca Harms, travelled across Europe to put their vision for the future of the EU to voters, giving people the chance to confront them directly in live debates in ten different cities, and in online chats and live hangouts. 22,676 people voted overall; Ska Keller received 11,791 votes and Jose Bové received 11,726 votes. The European Greens are the only political family who have chosen to open up the process of selecting their top politicians. The Green Primary has set a new democratic standard. By empowering 16 and 17 year olds to take part, we've given them a voice in Europe's future, too.
Commenting on the outcome Reinhard Bütikofer, Co-Chair of the European Green Party (EGP) said:
“Our European Green Primary has been a worthwhile experiment. We have not followed well-trodden paths, but entered new territory sending one clear signal: in the decision about selecting leaders, citizens should have a greater say. We had four excellent contenders and we thank all of them from the bottom of our hearts. They have done a marvelous job. We also want to thank our member parties who were the ones who mobilised our Green Primary voters. When these member parties gave us the go-ahead for this democracy experiment in November 2013, they put a lot of trust in the EGP. Together we have shown that it is possible to have pan-European discussions. Not only did we organise primary debates in ten countries, people from many more countries participated in these events online.”
Please find a short bio of our two leading candidates here.
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Comments
Boryanah
Hi, let me first congratulate the winners and wish them strenght for the following tough campaign.I'd like to ask you for the clarification of the stated above results - 22,656 people voted overall; Jose Bové received 11,726 votes and Ska Keller received 11,791 votes. The numbers did not seem correct. Can you please check and clarify. Thanks a lot in advance!
@_stman
Each voter was able to vote for a maximum of TWO different candidates (giving either one or two votes in total), thus giving a larger total number of votes than the number of people who voted.
The votes were to my knowledge distributed as follows: Ska Keller: 11 791, José Bové 11 726, Rebecca Harms 8 170, Monica Frassoni 5 851.
Jaap de Bruijn
Hi Boryanah, participants in the primaries could vote twice: two votes each (and the choice was out of four candidates)
Dimitrios
Indeed. 11,726+11,791 = 23,000+
Congratulations to the winners and cheers on the innovative campaign platform!
Paolo Sala
Dear Boryanah, the result is correct. Each voter could choose up to two candidates: the maximum amount of available votes was 2x22,656=45,312. I am quite happy about the outcome. We have a strong team! The choice was difficult: also Monica and Rebecca were so well qualified! I only hope that next time many more European voters will take part to the Primary.
Martin
Everybody could cast up to two votes, so the numbers fit. It seems that a huge majority chose to cast a single vote. I know that I did.
Daniel
@Boryanah
First, I want to join in congratulating the winners.
Second. The numbers are ok, it was possible to vote for one or two candidates in total, so the addition of all the votes received by the four candidates can be two times 22656 (45312) or less
como enanos
Amazing! Congratulations to Red Equo Joven from Spain!
Constantine
Congratulations to the winners and to the EGP. Can you help me with the numbers? There were 4 candidates, 22,656 people voted overall; Jose Bové received 11,726 votes and Ska Keller received 11,791 votes. So, 11,726 + 11,791 = 23,517.
Of course there were votes for the other 2 candidates, but we read that, overall 22,656 people voted. The Le Monde article carries the same numbers from the same press-reliese and give the numbers for the other two candidates. Any clarification?
Joel
Voters had the chance to vote for up to 2 candidates, which explains the voting numbers. I'd be interested to see what the other 2 candidates received. That said, it's not entirely clear why there are 2 candidates for the single position of Commission President!?
Florian
Hi, this election had quite a low voter turnout. Also technical problems in the voting process were reported, for example by the Süddeutsche Zeitung. I doubt that the result is representative for the members of the green parties in Europe, let alone that it reflects the wishes of their voters.
Otto ter Haar
All voters were able to cast two votes. So the total number of votes could be twice the number of voters. Many voters casted only one vote nevertheless.
Martin
Why are Ska's name, photograph, and statement consistently put in the second place, after José's, even though Ska won the primary by 65 votes and José's the runner-up?
Am I the only one who finds this disrespectful?
Christoph Bail
Congratulations to the winners as well as the other two candidates and the EGP itself. The Green Primaries have indeed been an innovative idea to involve European citizen in European policy making and overcome disenchantment with Europe.
I also have two questions: how many votes did Rebecca Harms and Monica Frassoni receive ? what is the (estimated) total number of members of Green Parties of the EU ? (comment: I know that also non-members of Green Parties could participate in the Primaries. However, it would be helpfull to have some indication about how many of the the members participated in the vote)
Christoph Bail
Congratulations to the winners as well as the other two candidates and the EGP itself. The Green Primaries have indeed been an innovative idea to involve European citizen in European policy making and overcome disenchantment with Europe.
I also have a question: what is the (estimated) total number of members of Green Parties of the EU ? (comment: I know that also non-members of Green Parties could participate in the Primaries. However, it would be helpfull to have some indication about how many of the the members actually participated in the primaries)
Margaret Manchester
Congratulations both - a good experiment. We must involve our young people in this initiative and the forthcoming campaigns All good wishes X
Hans Christian Lange
Nice try, but not a success. Maybe the low number of participants is due to technical problem. I would have love to vote, but never received the needed text message on my mobile phone. May request for help is still waiting for an answer..........
Stefan Volpert
We are still not sure about the future of this interesting project. At first i am interested ín the statistic how the participants of the voters are divided up in the European countries. Thank you.
Eduardo Robles ...
This election was suppsedly done in a secure manner, the votes were encrypted using a set of authorities, etc. Where are the cryptographic verifiable results of the election? Who were the authorities and how many were they?
Dieter
Hello Ska, Hello Jose`
Congratulation!
I wish you best of luck in fighting for our Cause und our philosophy.
Unforunately, I could you, Ska, do not listen to our New Year's Reception on 12.1.14 in Kleve an not see.
I hope that this can be set up in the near future.
Greeting
Dieter
Matsu Batsu
it would be only fair and transparent to say how many votes went to Monica Frassoni and Rebecca Harms
From Germany, 6...
I have never heard from a survey of the Greens before the elections to the European Parliament. I have chosen up to now always the Greens, now I consider what can cause a party if she makes her "faces" people whom only 23000 have chosen (in accordance with Süddeutsche Zeitung 0.0006% of all potential voters in the EU). This should probably be a joke? A feasibility study which has proved nonfeasibility for first ?
Efi Xanthou
My warmest congratulations to all candidates for making the Green Primaries a huge success! Lets go Greens!
Terrible
Sad to hear that my vote will support an anti-science person like José Bové, who opposes biotechnology. The opponents are responsible for the death of million poor children every year. theguardian.com/commentisfree/2013/nov/04/response-zac-goldsmith-golden-rice-gm-food
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