Not sure where the surprise is coming from tbh, the European Commission and its head have never been democratically legitimised or elected. This is the first time they tried pushing a personalised campaign to make it feel like a democracy and while it's funny how they failed so spectacularly it's not surprising.
In the end it didn't even matter last time there was an election. Everyone in Brussels knows Juncker is gravely ill and an alcoholic, the guy showed up with two different shoes at an event ffs. The guy can't climb five steps without getting dizzy and notoriously drinks like three or four glasses at any champagne reception, even when he was Luxembourgs PM it was McKinsey partners who effectively ran the country
The guy actually running stuff from behind the scenes Martin Selmayr has even less democratic legitimsation, a guy whose rise to power is due to his powerful familys connections domestically and in Europe. He ran Juncker's successful election campaign in 2014 and was rewarded with the post of Chief of Staff, back then already he started taking things in his own hands. In 2018 Juncker made him the deputy Secretary-General of the Commission, and literally an hour later the sitting Secretary-General resigned from his post. Obviously most members of the Parliament disagreed with this obvious coup detat and wanted him removed but naturally they hold no power in Europe and every position in the EC that could change anything is held by Germans and/or EPP members who are loyal to him.
So in the end it probably wouldn't have mattered anyway who gets the gig because of the enormous power Selmayr holds but someone like Timmerman who at least on paper would've outranked him could have tried to bring him down. Von der Leyen on the other hand most definitely will make matters worse.
