Europe Grapples With This Thing Called Democracy

Europe is bracing for a rough weekend full of elections coming up. In Italy, the young dashing Prime Minister Matteo Renzi is waging his entire political future on a referendum that most Italians don’t really understand. The referendum is to push through a constitutional change to how Italy’s Senate and government function. It would usually be a fairly arcane discussion except for the fact that Italy’s PM, who, by the way, wasn’t elected into this role, has promised to step down if it doesn’t get passed, making the whole referendum about him and the EU/Euro, two not very popular things. Speaking of unpopular premiers, French PM and vespa aficionado Francois Hollande saw the writing on the wall/poll numbers and decided he won’t be running for another term, stepping aside to allow another left-leaning contender to give it a shot. Finally, the Austrians are trying to figure out if they should also elect their own right-wing demagogue to the ceremonial Presidency. This Holocaust survivor is asking them not to do that.