[Forum] Peter Bayley (Forum edition 213) claims that proportional representation party list often leads to unstable coalitions.
That is incorrect. He claims this based on the examples of Italy and Belgium. Instability in Italy is regarded as inherent in the national character rather than the electoral system.
However, there are 89 countries that use it, and even though we can probably find a couple more with the occasional difficulty of finding a Coalition that represents the majority, that leaves still 85 that have no problem with it. And the problem of finding that majority Coalition is of course temporary.
In contrast, Australia does not have majority government.
The real government is the majority faction of one major party at times representing as little as 30 per cent.
The other faction must fall in line for the sake of unity. Turnbull was turfed out by that reactionary Coalition faction and we ended up with a PM reflecting that majority faction and the Hill Song Church.
Start thinking Australia. It is not democracy at all really.
Email, Aug 18 Klaas Woldring, Pearl Beach