I have been somewhat remiss in detailing the Australian election. Pardon me for waiting, and waiting, and waiting for some sort of clear result, but it looks like that is a ways off. I would not have even thought this was possible had I not lived through the 2000 US Presidential election.
Thankfully, Australians will not have to debate “hanging chads” and all that nonsense as in Australia voting is still handled by paper ballot. While voting is compulsory, I was astonished that I did not have to present any form of identification to get my name checked off the electoral roll. Then I was handed my ballot paper and a pencil to fill it out. This is the only “official” document I have ever filled out that did not require ink. I doubt very seriously that the customs and immigration officials would let me back in the country next month with declaration in pencil and without proper identification. But, apparently, it is good enough for picking the next leader of our country.
Filling in Australian ballot forms is not that easy either. Australia runs on a system of “preferential voting”. So, you don’t just pick the party/independent of your choice, you have to label each party/independent candidate in order of your preference. For instance, in my electorate, there were 11 possible choices. So, I had to number from 1 to 11 my preferences for the person I wanted to win the seat in Parliament for my electorate. The winner must win a 50% +1 vote majority. So, if in the first counting there is no clear winner of the majority, the candidate in 11th place votes are redistributed to the second choice candidate on those ballots. This continues on until there is a clear majority winner for the seat in Parliament.
The Prime Minister is then determined to be the leader of the party who wins the majority of seats in Parliament. Remember, that Australians do not specifically vote for a Prime Minister, but only for the party who themselves appoint the leader. As we saw a couple months ago with Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard, the party leader (i.e. sitting Prime Minister) can change at any given time without a vote.
However, in the election last week, no party actually won the 76 seats required to form a majority government. So, the balance of power lies with a few Independent MP’s who are busy deciding which major party to throw their support behind to finally form a majority and appoint a new PM.
Until then, we sit, wait and speculate.
