Thanks to everybody who responded to my last thread asking how the system works. I went in thinking Australia had Winner Takes All (WTA) or First Past The Post (FPTP) for parliamentary elections of the House of Representatives, but found out it does in fact have preferential voting.
As a European living in a democracy with lower houses / parliaments / houses of representatives that have proportional representation (multiple parties in parliament forcing requiring coalitions) allowing only a single tick per list on the ballot, it’s a little strange to see the choice in Australia seemingly come down to two political parties. There are multiple groups here fighting for preferential voting and you guys have it yet look like the UK or the US when considering voting outcomes.
Why doesn’t preferential voting not lead to plurality in Australia and more choice? Have there been efforts to change the system in such a way that plurality can be achieved?
Thank you for your insights! This is quite interesting to me.
The lower house, which legislates, is not proportionally represented, so even with preferential voting, Duverger’s Law applies and pushes towards two main parties (though not as strongly as under FPTP). The federal Senate is proportional, and there there are plenty of parties, with the government needing to deal with crossbenchers to pass legislation.