Tornado Alley (PROG)

[fuagf]

Well said. I pity you guys having to suffer your election campaigns.

U.S. Will Take 1,194 Days to Elect Its Next Leader. Australia Needs 38. Here’s Why.

[...]

But clearly, Australia’s race will be quick. By contrast, the 2016 presidential campaign in the United States lasted 596 days, counting from the date of the first major candidate’s official declaration to Election Day. The 2020 campaign, one of the longest in history, is set to last 1,194 days — the equivalent of more than 30 Australian election seasons.

[...]

A 2015 study, analyzing more than 26,000 polls in 45 countries since 1942, found that voters’ preferences take much longer to form in a presidential election than a parliamentary one because presidential voters need more time to assess the candidates.

Parliamentary systems also differ from presidential republics in the frequency with which elections can be called. In a presidential system, the term of office is fixed, and campaigning for the next election effectively starts when the last election ends.

But in a parliamentary system, general elections can be called more regularly and with less notice. To avoid lengthy gaps without a government, many countries have laws limiting the duration of a campaign.

[...]

How does Australia stack up?

Australian campaigns last between 33 and 68 days. That’s short by American standards but an eternity compared to Singapore, a country that has been governed by the same party for five decades, and which gives voters just nine days to choose a candidate.

Campaigns in Japan run for 12 days. In France, campaigning before the first round of voting can last no more than two weeks. The campaign period in Canada lasts about 36 days, in Britain five to six weeks and in Israel 101 days.

Like Australia, those counties all have legally fixed campaign periods.

According to John Keane, a professor of politics at the University of Sydney and author of “The Life and Death of Democracy,” the writers of Australia’s Constitution had good reason to limit the length of campaigns.

The writers feared “that since the House of Representatives would usually not last three years from the time of its first meeting, and since sitting governments and politicians in search of victory might be tempted to string out election campaigns, good government would suffer,” Professor Keane said.

They also worried, he added, that “abuse of power and political discontinuity would get the upper hand. Hence the need to place strict time limits on election campaigns.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/04/10/world/australia/election-campaign-finance-scott-morrison.html