, Columnists
Australia’s Political Shock Echoes From Ohio to London
Just as elsewhere in the world, the traditional rural-urban political lines are being scrambled.
Who’d be a pollster these days?
Photographer: Carla Gottgens/BloombergThis article is for subscribers only.
Australia likes to think that its electoral system is immune to the sort of shock outcomes seen elsewhere in recent years.
Voting is compulsory, so there’s never a surprise driven by turnout. A system that requires voters to nominate multiple candidates means that insurgent third-party campaigns have little purchase, because people can have their protest vote and still choose a mainstream candidate too.