Labor win election

For the second time in two weeks, voters have chosen to give decisive control of parliament to the government of the day. Last week it was the swing toward the government in the Senate which will see it take an extraordinarily commanding position, whilst this week it was the ALP which have conquered all before it in the ACT elections.

17 seats were up for grabs in three, multimember electorates, and the results look likely to end up like this:

ALP 10
Liberals 6
Greens 1

It is telling that the movement toward minor parties and independents seems to have subsided. Instead, voters have rushed toward the ALP government and decided to trust it not only to govern, but to have the balance of power in the parliament. Perhaps voters are tiring of the endless negotiation and finessing which a shared balance of power requires, and are embracing a Jeff-Kennett style decisive government. John Stanhope is the man in the ACT, and he looks moderate enough to use his power carefully, but looks can be decieving. This is the first time in 15 years of self-government that territorians have given a party a majority. I say bring back Modified D'Hondt - that's what this election needs:

Modified d'Hondt was diabolically complicated took weeks to count and confused even the hardened professionals at the Australian Electoral Commission. It was dubbed "the electoral system from Hell". The AEC begged Federal Parliament to change it and a referendum on electoral systems was held in conjunction with the 1992 election.


One hopes that the parties which have been given such power, both federally and in the territory, exercise it wisely. A brave move, dear voter, but a wise one?

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