The current party system

 Image courtesy of Michael Leunig

In the existing political party system, we have essentially two parties ( plus a few smaller ones, who can have a say, but dont really contribute much to the overall government). They DO however have an extraordinary influence in cases where the majority parties cannot get a sufficient majority to govern in their own right. In that case, because they hold the balance of power, we can get situations where a small minority, who almost nobody voted for, get a very large say in the outcome of a major decision. This goes against all the principles of democracy, where we would like to think that at least 50% of voters are in favour of a decision.

What we really have is a system where voters really only get a choice between two or so candidates in their electorate to be in power, but no say at all in what the party of which he is a candidate does.  The candidate may only be a minor member of his party, and not have any effective say in party decisions.  And you as a voter have no say at all it what decisions the party makes, or even in who they put forward as a candidate.

The other issue with our current party system is that its really only the party which chooses who our leaders are. Unless you are a member of a party, you as an individual have no say whatever over who is chosen as your representative in your local electorate. Even if you are a member of the party at the rank-and-file level, you still get absolutely no say at all in the top end leadership. Is this what we really understand by democracy ?

There are a lot of other issues with party systems and voting preferences as well, which have been well documented, for those who care to delve into the murkier depths.