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Comment by Isinlor | Hacker News Reader

She was elected on 16th of July 2019 by the EU Parliament. There were 383 votes in favour of her nomination, 327 against and 22 abstentions.

https://www.europarl.europa.eu/news/en/hearings2019/commissi...

The EU Parliament elections by the direct citizens vote were on 23–26 May 2019.

Her election is really not much different than election of any other prime minister / executive in parliamentary democracies.

The only difference is that the president of the EU Commission is proposed by the member states.

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That’s an odd example, since she wasn’t even up for election, she was “nominated”. At least two German political parties complained about backroom deals and an undemocratic process.

She was proposed by EU Council and then elected by the parliament exactly as specified by the treaty:

> Taking into account the elections to the European Parliament and after having held the appropriate consultations, the European Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall propose to the European Parliament a candidate for President of the Commission. This candidate shall be elected by the European Parliament by a majority of its component members. If he does not obtain the required majority, the European Council, acting by a qualified majority, shall within one month propose a new candidate who shall be elected by the European Parliament following the same procedure.

Article 17(7) Treaty on European Union (TEU)

https://eur-lex.europa.eu/legal-content/EN/TXT/HTML/?uri=CEL...

To be honest, I don't even know what is the legal basis of the whole lead candidate idea. Do you know?

Right, the people don't vote for the president. If the people are allowed to vote, people vote for change - Brexit, Trump.

The people have little influence in what is being forced on them. I suspect this will end with some EU member States going their own way, after the people demand it.

Trump never had a majority vote for him in the US. So that case is very similar to the indirect voting you’re talking about wrt von der Leyen

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