Accountability through elections

Question 1

Accountability Definition

Answer 1

Political accountability is the requirement that all public officials, both elected and appointed, should be directly or indirectly answerable to the people.
Conventions that create accountability are a system of responsible parliamentary democracy.

Question 2

Electoral Compromise

Answer 2

Electoral Compromise 1949
o House of Representatives: preferential (single member electorate)
o Senate: proportional (multi member electorate)

Question 3

Preferential Voting

Answer 3

A voting system where voters must initiate their order of preference for the first candidates listed on a ballot. The successful candidate must secure absolute majority of votes on first preferences or have an absolute majority after preferences have been distributed. The candidate with the fewest primary votes is eliminated and their preferences are distributed among the remaining candidates, this process continues until one candidate secures an absolute majority.

Question 4

Proportional voting

Answer 4

A voting system based on a multi-member electorates in which each successful candidate must achieve a quota- a fraction of the vote that reflects the number of positions to be filled from the electorate.

Question 5

PROS proportional voting

Answer 5

• It allows minor parties and independents to win seats in Parliament.
• It ensures that no votes are wasted as they are in single-member electorates.
• It is more representative of the wishes of the electorate, in that parties win seats in proportion to the percentage of the vote they receive.

Question 6

CONS proportional voting

Answer 6

• It is complicated, costly and time-consuming to administer and count.
• By allowing minor parties and candidates to win seats, it promotes instability in Parliament. The balance of power can be held by a number of members elected by a small minority of the electorate.
• Until the advent of the Group Voting Ticket system, it encouraged a high level of informal voting.

Question 7

How does proportional voting keep parliament accountable?

Answer 7

prevents friendly senate

Question 8

representative govt

Answer 8

direct representation of the people

Question 9

preferential statistics

Answer 9

 Voting is in order of preference
 Single member electorate  one per electorate
 Absolute majority 50% +1 to gain seat
 HOR  lower house, 150 seats
 The elector (voter) must show a preference for all candidates listed on the ballot paper
 The voter can leave one box empty if the voter’s intention with regard to the other preferences is clear
 The empty vote is treated as the voters last preference
 Increases democracy
- Preferential = if no 1st vote they can get their 1st, 2nd, 3rd ext.

Question 10

proportional statistics

Answer 10

	Multi member electorate 
	Allows minor parties a chance to gain
	Senate  76 seats 
	Quota = number of votes each candidate needs to be elected to the senate
-	Based on number of formal votes
	In the senate there are 8 electorates
-	6 states (12 members)
-	2 territories (2 members)