h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

It's election day here tomorrow, as we all trudge off to the polling booth to vote in 17 members of the Legislative Assembly of the Australian Capital Territory. The candidates are a pretty feeble lot. Labor has been in power for 8 years now and they're out of steam. The Liberals have been squabbling among themselves the whole time and they're basically just stupid. (Example: get more people to use buses by building more carparks near bus stops. How about putting more buses on instead? Words fail me - the Libs are thick as pigshit, basically.) Don't get me started on the Australian Motorists' Party, who are running on a platform of building new facilities for motorsport. (Bugger the hospitals, we'll have a speedway, thanks...)

So I think I'll be going Green this time, with (*sigh*) Labor after that. It's preferential voting in multi-member electorates, you see... Ginninderra and Brindabella each return five members; Molonglo returns seven. Here in Molonglo I'll get to number 40 prats in order of increasing dopiness.

Oh, what a treat.

Good luck. I'm voting in the US election (through early voting) at the beginning of next week.

Have fun!

So, if you only order say five, is that different than if you order all 40? I've never figured that out (only voted in a few pv elections).

Are many people likely to vote against Labour simply because they've been in so long. That's what's happening here of course. It's hard to know how to get out of that dilemma, other than the incumbant party doing something innovative

I think the rule is that numbering even a single square constitutes a valid vote, but that it's better to number at least as many candidates as there are seats... and that it's best to number all candidates to give full effect to preference flows. Personally, I always number all the candidates so as to enjoy giving some idiot the ultimate put-down.

A lot of people will be voting for change, but there's little sign that they'll vote for the bloody Libs (and their leader, disconcertingly called Zed). The most likely outcome is a Labor minority government, kept afloat by Green support. This is what I'm hoping for - a continuation of progressive social policy, tied to a party that will insist on better public transport and the like.

Good luck!

Interesting system, btw.

It's a strange system, but it does (usually) give a sensible (and reasonably representative) result...

Oh, Ellen, I forgot to say... Good luck with your election too. Not long to go now. I'm quite sure that the right guy will win, and that Moose-huntin' Barbie will soon be just a bad memory.

Thank you!!

Australian Motorists' Party? Give me strength I hope you manage to stay awake long enough to number all 40 candidates, Ivan

The election here is a very calm affair compared to others I've witnessed, and is almost overshadowed by the US in the media. I keep on hoping that the NZ opposition will do / say something really stupid to ease the PM back in for another term. She's new to me of course, so I'd like to see her in action for longer. The rest of NZ doesn't necessarily agree with me (silly fools )

Fb

... Yeetch!!! away. Still about a month away.

Right - the polls have closed. Radio coverage says there's a swing of about 10% from Labor - but there's only 0.1% swing to the bloody Libs. The Greens are doing well...

As this is both multi-member electorates and proportional representation, it's too early to say exactly which *candidates* will get in. But they have said that Jacqui Burke is polling badly. This delights me; she is a vile piece of w*rk.

They've just had the dismal Burke woman on the radio, trying to put a positive spin on things. I'm so glad I put her at number 40.

Now they're talking to Frank Pangallo, who was running as an independent. He's trying to justify having bombed out completely. For me, it's easy - he's the ex-mayor of Queanbeyan, which isn't even in the ACT; he resigned that job, moved down the road to Canberra, and instantly declared himself a candidate for the ACT Assembly. H'mmm. The Ego has Landed.

As for the Australian Motorists' Party... Idiots, the lot of them. Today they were putting up their advertising material at bus stops - by definition, not where they'd find supporters.

Latest figures are suggesting that Labor will have 7 seats, the stupid Libs will have 7, and the Greens will have 3. Labor has a higher percentage of the vote than the Libs. The swing against Labor is still there, but there's a definite swing against the Libs too. I'll just go and get myself another glass of Schadenfreude and soda.

>Today they were putting up their advertising material at bus stops - by definition, not where they'd find supporters.




You can't make this stuff up.

This has all been very educational for me- it's always odd reading that the Libs are the worst of the lot, when my mind is trained to read "libs" as "desirable".

Fingers crossed for a positive turnout.

It's a question of terminology. The Liberal Party got its name because when it was founded there was no centrally-enforced platform of beliefs (other than in general terms). Since then, it's drifted to the Right. This is why people here with genuine liberal opinions describe themselves as 'small "L" liberals'.

One disappointment this time around - the 'Free Range Canberra' party didn't field any candidates. Their sole policy was the elimination of battery egg production from the Teritory. There is in fact only one such facility in the Territory; I wonder what else they were planning to do after shutting that place down. All very noble, etc, but I do have trouble with single-issue parties.

>This is why people here with genuine liberal opinions describe themselves as 'small "L" liberals'.

Ahhhhhhhh- it all makes perfect sense now, thanks.

Single-issue parties are a problem. As you say, what do you do once you've resolved the issue?

Sometimes, it's hard, too, when a particular candidate (we don't have all those parties, though I could swear I've seen more than the big two, independent and Green) supports a number of issues with which I agree, with one glaring difference that makes it difficult to support them. I'm sure you know what I mean.

Ah yes. We had a group once who advocated citizen-initiated referenda, improved public transport, free tertiary education, increased humanitarian aid to poorer countries in this region, and a ban on abortion and the introduction of religious education in State schools. They sank without trace.

As for yesterday's efforts: the Libs are saying they should form the next Government because of the huge swing against Labor. What a crock. The Libs are trailing Labor by 6%, and there was a swing against *them* too. Labor received the highest primary vote of any party.

Anyway. Now we'll wait to see what happens. But whichever way it goes, improved public transport would seem to be a guaranteed priority.

The election results have officially been declared. The last of the seven seats in Molonglo went to... the Greens! This seat could have gone to the Libs, but the forces of evil were defeated.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2008/10/25/2401247.htm

So the new Legislative Assembly will have seven Labor MLAs, six Libs and four Greens - a record number of Greens, an embarrassment for the Libs and a problem for Labor. I like this arrangement.

We still don't know who the Government is, but with Labor having more seats than the Libs and being much less fascist than the Libs, I suspect the Greens will support Labor to form a minority government.

What a great result, Ivan

Now, let's hope the NZ electorate are similarly sensible

There's every chance they will be.

Fb, are you finding it frustrating to be voteless for this one, or haven't you been in NZ long enough to immerse yourself in the political situation?