Home

Townsville's Nov 22 Council By-Election - Sham Democracy

Mon, 24/11/2008 - 17:37 — Pat Coleman

Link To Townsville City Council November 22 2008 By Election webpage:
http://www.townsville.qld.gov.au/council/by_election

Link to other discussions on the web :
http://townsville.womf.com/110441/ENUFF

Townsville's Nov 22 Council By-Election - Sham Democracy

Enough of this electoral charade. To my knowledge this by-election is the first time I have seen people really start to question the type of electoral system we have at the local level. As I stated before, the labor party finds it difficult to compete in a city wide electorate as apposed to divisions, and they are in the money.

This means a city wide division is a good start.

But the stark reality of the 1st past the post system is that we have a new councillor with less than 25% of the vote, which means a 75% disapproval rating. This might be better than having a councillor without an election at all, but it is sham democracy. Hardly a landslide. It might be illegal but this is why I felt the need to write “bollocks” on my ballot.

What needs to occur locally is an optional preferential model. As with federal and state elections, at least interest groups and smaller less resourced parties can achieve some outcomes through electoral “blackmail”, for that is what preference negotiations are.

That is not to say that federal elections are anymore democratic. 1 of 2 parties always “forces” you to vote for them whether you like it or not through compulsory preferences or you face your vote being declared informal.

We need optional preferential for the next federal election as well .Labor and the coalition need to know that there are no guarantees and must be kept on their toes till the last minute. Labor and the coalition manipulate the system so either nothing changes or it takes decades.