Interim Australian election results, from the AEC (seat numbers from here):
Party | % Votes | Seats | % Seats |
Australian Labor Party | 38.51 | 71 | 47.3 |
Liberal | 30.33 | 42 | 28.0 |
The Greens | 11.43 | 1 | 0.7 |
Liberal National Party of Queensland | 8.95 | 21 | 14.0 |
The Nationals | 3.86 | 7 | 4.7 |
CLP - The Territory Party | 0.34 | 1 | 0.7 |
Independents | 2.57 | 3 | 2.0 |
Others | 4.01 | 0 | 0.00 |
Seats in doubt | 0 | 4 | 2.7 |
While this is a preliminary result, with 4 seats still in doubt, it shows the fundamental unfairness of the Australian election system. The Greens, with 11.43% of the vote, got a single seat. Meanwhile, the Nationals, with 3.86% of the vote, got 7, while the Queensland LNP, with 8.95% of the vote, got 21. Describing this outcome as anything other than perverse, is, well, perverse.
An electoral system which distributes power in a way which bears no apparent relationship to the total vote cast is not just unfair and irrational, it is undemocratic. Australians deserve better than this - they deserve a properly democratic system. They deserve proportional representation.