Election musings

[oneiriad]

Right, so, we're finally getting an election here in Denmark - and it will be only a couple of months before the deadline, that's how pathetically the current government's been clinging to the seat of power lately.

Anyway, I just really hope that red block (all its faults aside) wins this one - because for pretty much my entire adult life, all the time I've actually had a say, we've had a right wing government - one growing more and more reliant on the bitch queen and her harem and consequently more and more willing to bend over for her. And I am actually ashamed of living in a country where some of my fellow citizens would vote for those people. I really am. I hope they'll stop.

Also, seriously, how do people in the US manage with just two parties to choose between (yes, I know there's more, I also know that the way the system over there works, they're not really ...) - I mean, I can choose between a mere nine this time around, and there isn't really one that really fits my opinions, so it's going to be least awful choice as per usual - seriously, if Jacob Haugaard ran again, I might vote for him, but I think the poor guy got too traumatized the time he actually managed to get elected...

Comments

[amerally.livejournal.com]

I can tell you how the U.S. manages with just two parties to choose between: NOT WELL AT ALL. It's extremely frustrating to have only two choices (and there are ONLY two viable choices, unfortunately; any independent/Green Party/etc. candidates have no chance for election whatsoever). Increasingly, this country is becoming bipolar -- and this mental illness is paralyzing the nation from accomplishing anything. And the politicians with the most extreme views are the ones who get most of the media attention, thus giving the rest of the world the impression that America is a nation of idiots.

Just one American's POV.

[oneiriad.livejournal.com]

From this Danes point of view it probably doesn't really help that your two choices are a right-wing party and an extremely right-wing party, at least compared to our political landscape...

[fairlyironic.livejournal.com]

As an American I've always wished that we had more than two parties to vote for. Be that as it may, in my civics courses I was taught that the two-party system is more stable than its counterpart. Things get done faster and there are very few no-confidence votes, even on the state level. I don't have enough experience with international politics to know if this is actually true, but it seems logical. I do think, however that part of the reason for our low voting turnout (we're lucky to hit 50% in national elections) is because people can't identify with their candidate. I've never voted for a candidate that I really liked.

[oneiriad.livejournal.com]

Well, Denmark has had a grand total of three votes of no-confidence in its history and one of those involved having to very seriously tell the king that government should be formed by the majority parties, not the ones he happened to like.

Anyway, while things might get done faster, I'd like to think that more parties actually bring about a more stable system, as no single party can actually rule alone - either the government consists of at least two parties or they have support parties not actually in the government. And many laws are passed with the support of parties from all over the spectrum, so new governments tend to spend less time undoing the old governments work after a change of power.

50%? Last parliament election brought out 86,53% around here. Mind you, it can still be impossible to find a candidate you actually like :-)

[fairlyironic.livejournal.com]

86.53% is a pretty amazing turnout. I don't think the US has *ever* had a turnout even close to that.

I suppose I'm ambivalent about our system because I don't know that I'd be willing to sacrifice speed for accuracy of voter representation. It already takes the government too long to get things done, I can't really imagine how slow it would be if parties had to form alliances for every bill to get passed. Of course, slowness in the process is one stopgap measure to prevent extreme changes from happening too quickly, but extreme changes in general are rare here. Neither party can afford to lose popular support, so though each party may have extremist members, the policies of each party tend to be fairly mainstream. Mainstream for America, that is. That might differ from mainstream policies in other parts of the world.

I see amerally's point about bipolarity. I'd rather discuss cannibalism with my neighbors or coworkers than politics. It's that divisive an issue.