Australian electoral system under scrutiny
The cyclical examination by Australia’s Parliament of its own national electoral system – held after each federal election – is now underway. The joint House-and-Senate Standing Committee on Electoral Matters, JSCEM, usually … Continue reading
Maine voters consider shift to preferential voting
Voters in the US state of Maine will vote on November 8 on whether to approve a change to the state’s electoral law to introduce preferential voting for all state and … Continue reading
Pirates Repelled in Attempt to Board World’s Oldest Parliament
The progressive, free-speech oriented Pirate Party of Iceland has failed in its goal of taking leadership of the oldest parliamentary assembly in the World, the Althing of Iceland. Founded at the … Continue reading
Move to ‘write-in’ Trump alternatives a meaningless gesture
In United States elections, it is often possible for voters to ‘write-in’ a candidate whose name is not on the ballot paper. But recent announcements by various Republican politicians to disavow … Continue reading
Donald Trump has another problem
If Donald Trump somehow ekes out a narrow win in the US presidential election, the presidency could still be snatched away from him by a handful of his Republican party … Continue reading
The likely make-up of the new Australian Senate
The shape of Australia’s new Senate is coming into view, and it does not look to be an easy chamber for the Turnbull coalition government. The overall position seems to … Continue reading
New senators will have unequal voter support
Some of the newly elected Australian Senators will need to brace themselves for a new form of abuse: being denounced as “unrepresentative ‘below-quota’ swill”, to paraphrase Paul Keating’s famous quote. … Continue reading
Spanish election solves nothing about government standoff
Last weekend’s re-run of elections for the Spanish parliament has yielded a result almost identical to the inconclusive December 2015 elections, which left the nation without an endorsed government for over six months. … Continue reading
Independent wins Austrian presidency
Independent candidate Alexander Van der Bellen has been elected as the next President of Austria by a slim 31,000 votes over the anti-immigrant Freedom Party’s Norbert Hofer. The result – … Continue reading
Austrian presidential vote a virtual tie
Yesterday’s presidential election in Austria is hanging in the balance, with the leading broadcaster projecting a virtual 50/50 tie. The result will either bring in Europe’s first far-right nationalist elected head of … Continue reading
On Elections 