The other new regions have all chosen their names, but in Midi Pyrenées Languedoc Roussillon there is process under which all residents can vote until 9th June, and I wondered whether SFN members were taking advantage of this? While it may be of less significance than the Brexit vote, the method of choosing the winner is much more interesting, and the debate more civilised.
There is a list of five names (Languedoc, Languedoc-Pyrenées, Occitanie, Occitanie-Pays Catalan and Pyrenées-Méditeranée) and we are all asked to put them in order of preference. Simple ways of choosing the winner would be to see which of the five names had the highest number of first preferences (as in UK elections), or to give 5 points for each first preference down to 1 for a fifth preference, and then add up the total (like the winner of the F1 championship). However the actual method is called la méthode Condorcet, which means that they will need to analyse each name in a duel against each other name. In other words while name A might have the most first votes, it is quite possible that in terms of total preferences against each other possible name it could come last. Condorcet was an 18th century mathematician and his method is not much used for elections of any kind because of the complexity of the process. Apparently the region has a big enough computer to make it all possible. Logically the Condorcet method may not give a clear winner (known as le paradoxe condorcet) but I have not found which tie breaking method they plan to use should that occur. A great example of the French love of complexity.