FAQ on Inclusive Voting Procedures > What is a Preferendum? > When there is a difference in quality or gravity between one outcome and another, (eg. Whether or not to go to war?) does this not highlight a weakness of the preferendum idea?
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When the un Security Council debated Iraq in Oct. 2002 – Resolution 1441 – doubtless all fifteen members had their own views on what was the best policy: more or fewer sanctions and/or inspections and/or threats, and/or whatever.
For reasons unclear, only one option was allowed on the table… which then led to the ridiculous situation in which France voted in favour of something she did not like! She objected to the phrase “serious consequences” but nevertheless voted ‘for’… presumably because she thought it better than nothing.
In a multi-option setting, a French (and German) variation of the resolution would also have been on the ballot paper, maybe a Syrian one as well, an Irish one too perhaps, and the outcome of the subsequent multi-option vote might well have been a more accurate reflection of the fifteen members’ consensus viewpoint.Last updated on September 19, 2008 by Deborda
