The upheaval in the Northern Territory government could result in the first constitutional test of Australia’s move to fixed-term Parliaments, says the ABC’s resident wonk Antony Green. Will the NT ALP sit it out until 2012, or play some tricky numbers games to wrangle an early election?
Elections
British MPs should be quaking in their boots
With public trust in politicians at an all-time low, being an incumbent MP in Britain will be a huge liability in the next election, says Michael Brown.
The road ahead for SBY
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono should win Indonesia’s presidency with a landslide. What lies ahead sounds exhausting: cleaning up a corrupt and creaking bureaucracy, overhauling the judiciary, beefing up infrastructure and more.
A win for Yudhoyono and democracy
Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono looks set to easily win Indonesia’s Presidential election, with a minimum of violence and corruption — and that’s the real win.
Letter from...: Indonesia heads to the polls
Today Indonesia will head to the polls to directly elect its president, for only the second time ever in history, freelance Australian journalist Ashlee Betteridge reports from Jakarta.
Teflon Silvio rises again
Scandals with myriad women notwithstanding, Italian PM Berlusconi’s centre-right coalition had convincing wins in elections across the country. But he isn’t off the hook just yet.
Discrepancies might affect 3 million Iranian votes
The number of votes cast in 50 cities exceeded the actual number of voters, state television has reported
A big step backwards in the Middle East
A week after Lebanon’s elections were won by the moderate, pro-western forces, Iran has gone the other way, writes Charles Richardson.
Iran elections: how the system works
Who can run; who votes and the President’s role. Iran’s electoral system explained.
Who wants to be a Liberal MP?
It’s time to clear some dead wood from the Victorian Liberal Party, writes Charles Richardson.
European elections: how the results unfolded
The emerging theme from the European elections: poor results for the centre-left and a number of smaller parties — including some from the political fringe — making great strides.
Why the EU matters #1: it stops people being blown up in their beds
The EU stops people being blown up in their beds. It prevents them from cowering in fear as foreign armies roll across their country, averts human rights abuses on a scale our minds simply can’t contemplate. It thwarts, in a word, war, writes psephologist Stephen Luntz.
Europeans go to the polls
This week, the second-largest democratic election in the world takes place: an election across the 27 countries of the EU for the 736 members of the European parliament.
Iranian government blocks Facebook
Critics of the Iranian government are up in arms over the apparent blocking of social networking site Facebook just weeks before the country heads to the polls.
Indonesia comes down with election fever
The seven-week race for the Indonsian Presidency has kicked off.
Pressure for India’s Congress to do more with more
The Congress Party has achieved its best result since 1991. What will it do with its victory?
Five big challenges for Manmohan Singh
Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is about to enter his second term in office with a strong mandate. TIME suggests five ways he can really make a difference.
India shows the GFC having impact on global voting
It seems that the global financial crisis has not had the devastating effect on the world’s governments that many were expecting six months ago.
Political snippets: Budget 09, quelle bore! And more
ABS cuts mean that labour force stat sample is reduced, Indian voting reaches final stages, Budget was boring.
Political snippets: Wayne Swan won’t get his Budget wish
Presenting the government wish list for Budget 09 (not that they’ll get it), astrology v polls in India and the increasing lobbying power of animal liberation groups.
South Africa desperately needs a viable Opposition
South Africa faces major challenges, and they can can only be surmounted by the emergence of a strong opposition.
Irish opt for paper ballots over e-voting
Chalk one up for AEC-style old skool pen-and-paper voting: Ireland are scrapping their e-voting system and going back to paper ballots.
Prospects of a united Cyprus look dim
The prospects of a united Cyprus receded when a nationalist party won the parliamentary election recently.
Tasmanian upper house elections
On Saturday week, one fifth of Tasmanian voters go to the polls to perform some reupholstering on the state’s 15-members Legislative Council.
