Don’t hold your breath if you expect the promises to be fulfilled

Distortion ... may have had very little impact on voters on this occasion, but such behaviour does pose a fundamental threat to democracy, because any leader who seeks to lead by misleading is not fit to lead.

DOES ANYONE care now what the parties promised? The election is over and the promises are about as meaningful as the old campaign posters.

People argue about whether the “Payback Time” editorial on the front page of the Irish Independent on election day 1997 really made a difference. It called on people to vote against the Rainbow Coalition. Most of the media probably do not think it had any impact on the outcome. It is usually only the politicians who think that voters are really influenced by pundits.