11 million Aussies vote. 6 men decide.

Reality can be stranger than fiction. As the final votes from the federal election are counted the Australian Broadcasting Corporation predicts the governing Labor Party and the conservative Liberal-National Coalition will both have won 73 seats in the House of Representatives. On Saturday some 11 million citizens cast their votes, but in a twist of fate the decision on who forms the next government rests with a handful of independent MPs. Continue reading

The Hung Parliament must not strangle democracy

Ordinarily, Britain doesn’t do hung parliaments. For all the talk of legitimacy demanding the victors carry the support of more than half the electorate, an election yielding a government without the parliamentary might to quash the combined strength of all other parties is viewed as a failure. Continue reading