Of all the days to hit the wrong button

“The European voters won’t forget the shameful vote of today.”

So spoke Portuguese socialist European Parliament member Edite Estrela after the announcement that her pro-abortion report had been rejected by her fellow parliamentarians.  Accusing her colleagues of “hypocrisy and obscurantism,” she threatened that their constituents would be displeased by their votes.

Eager to hold their representatives accountable, multiple Twitter users on both sides of the issue soon tweeted links to the official vote tallies. They also linked to the VoteWatch Europe website, which further analyzes the votes by showing which voters were “loyal” or “rebels” to their political party.

While 92% of parliamentarians voted along party lines, one very unexpected “rebel” appeared in the official record: Michael Cashman, a MEP from the UK and co-president of the European Parliament’s LGBT intergroup.

Cashman was recorded as voting “yes” to the alternative resolution that was adopted instead of the Estrela report.

The final vote counts were 334 in favor of the alternative resolution, 327 against it, and 35 abstentions.

Cashman, who co-wrote a post blasting the outcome of the vote, has been outspoken in support of the Estrela report since the beginning.

No doubt interested in clearing up any potential accusations of hypocrisy or rebellion, Cashman tweeted that his listed vote was in error:

“I am absolutely clear I have voted against alternative resolution to #estrela report and have asked plenary services to investigate #srhr”

For the present, the official record says otherwise.  Even if Cashman’s vote is ultimately moved to the “no” side, it will not change the outcome – but until the matter is cleared up one way or the other, Edite Estrela might want to aim her accusations of hypocrisy at her allies rather than her opponents.

Including one whose mistake might have inadvertently landed him on the right side of history.

View online at: https://c-fam.org/turtle_bay/of-all-the-days-to-hit-the-wrong-button/

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