by Cimino | 10 Oct 2010 | Cartoons, MMP, STV
As mayoral majorities go, it’s one of the slimmest. Because the democratic world is so inured to the deficiencies of first-past-the-post, it mostly goes unnoticed that mayors are typically elected by a minority vote, often a tiny minority. Whereas Celia Wade-Brown won...
by Cimino | 9 Sep 2010 | Māori representation
Humans are hard-wired for fairness. Which is why so many traditional supporters of the Australian Labor Party abandoned it following the treachery visited on its fleetingly victorious leader Kevin Rudd. The political system of Aotearoa, until joined recently by...
by Cimino | 25 Aug 2010 | MMP
First, it was a fateful decision. Then it became a cynical decision, when New Zealand’s parliament ignored the 81.5% of voters who asked for the house to be reduced to 99 seats—the cosy two-party duopoly had no desire to see mixed-member proportional… endure. In...
by Cimino | 22 Aug 2010 | MMP
Updated 9 September 2010 Grand coalition is the only honourable option. In yesterday’s election, neither major party obtained a mandate to lead Australia. The undisputed winner, out of the shameful defrauding of Kevin Rudd and the Australian people, is the Green...
by Cimino | 3 Nov 2009 | Cartoons, MMP
It is a continual improvement advocate’s worst nightmare. It would be like lining up the 15-year-old family hack at Bathurst, without even checking the dipstick. Mixed member proportional is about to be compared with a yet-to-be-determined range of other systems, with...
by Cimino | 25 Sep 2009 | Cartoons, MMP
Only half know what they are doing. That’s in general elections, where the turnout puts local government elections to shame—in spite of voters needing to travel no further than the mailbox. And not only do a mere 52%post the 2003 election understand ‘which of the two...
