One thing Americans might find odd about the Australian election (or the Canadian, British or New Zealand ones for that matter) is that the Prime Minister gets to choose the date.
Being democratic countries, that does not mean that the government gets to extend its term as long as it likes. Elections in Australia and New Zealand must be held every three years [for people who are really into trivia, the exact requirement is that the election must be called within three years of the previous election results being declared, which generally occurs about one month after the election, leading to full electoral terms of slightly over three years. we digress ...] and in Britain they must be held every five years.
Britain, in particular, has a long-standing tradition of elections more regularly than the maximum term would allow. The government, holding the power to choose the date, naturally tries to pick one that maximises its own chances of coming out ahead. Australia and New Zealand used to disdain this practice. Between 1949 and 1975 the Australian and New Zealand elections were often held only a week or so apart in mid-late November. Lately though, it has become quite common in Australia for governments to try and renew their mandate with the electorate earlier than they have to. Indeed, Australia had an election in March 1983, and then another one in late 1984.
The New Zealand election was held early in 2002, by about four months, and the government came in for some flak from the media and political commentators for breaking with a schedule that would have seen the election return to its traditional late November date (after an early October election in 1999). It's not clear whether many voters actually cared about this.
I mention all this as a random entree to the different world that is election scheduling in Westminister democracies, that is to say, non-republican, democracies (small r, small d).
Governments that are not entirely sure of their re-election, like John Howard's, put even more thought than normal into the timing of the election, with such things as major sporting events, the release of economic statistics, visits by or to foreign leaders, and other countries' upcoming elections key variables that work in every possible direction.
American readers wishing to ponder the alternative political universe this kind of power gives to governments, can imagine what kind of thumping victory George Bush would have won if he had been able to call an election in February 2002, for example ...
November 2, 2004.
Posted by robe0419 at August 29, 2004 4:40 PM