“In Australia, the practice of voting by preference tends to promote the rapprochement of points of view and the stability of the regime”

If the crisis of our representative system has been aggravated, in France, by the dissolution of the National Assembly, all parliamentary democracies are today affected by a growing polarization of political debate and an erosion of the so-called “governing parties”. “. In the long term, an entire model is under threat. From this point of view, we could draw inspiration from the Australian example. In response to the fear of isolation and fragmentation of the community, which irrigates the Australian identity, there is in fact, in their electoral practice, the constant concern to promote the rapprochement of points of view and the stability of the parliamentary system. The vote therefore has two major characteristics: it is compulsory, and it is organized by a “preferential voting”, that is to say that the voter is asked to express themselves on the entire political offering present at each election. Read also | Article reserved for our subscribers Faced with resigning governments, the call for a “strengthening of the role of Parliament” Read later In the House of Representatives (where elections are held by majority vote) and in the Senate (where the vote is proportional) , the electoral law thus obliges the voter to note all the candidates or all the parties, failing which his ballot is invalidated. The voter indicates his first choice (primary vote) then his preferences, in descending order, for the other candidates or parties. For results in the House of Representatives, primary votes are counted first. If no candidate obtains an absolute majority, the last candidate is eliminated and the preferences attached to his votes are distributed to the remaining candidates. We continue in this way until one of the candidates obtains an absolute majority. Positive dynamics In the Senate, the quota necessary to be elected is determined according to a calculation taking into account the total number of votes and the number of seats to be filled. If a candidate receives a number of votes greater than the quota, he is elected and his excess votes are redistributed. If none is elected thanks to the primary votes, we eliminate the candidates having obtained the lowest scores and we distribute their preferences, until the quota is obtained. You have 67.97% of this article left to read. The rest is reserved for subscribers.



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