The current goings on in Australian politics are utterly fascinating. Combining elements of high-minded democratic governance with characteristics of a reality television show and UFC fighting, the next week will see an all-out brawl for the leadership of the Australian Labor Party between Kevin Rudd, the former prime minister and Julia Gillard, the current prime minister. Here in a nutshell is how we got to today.
- Kevin Rudd was forced to resign as Prime Minister in 2010 after Julia Gillard engineered a palace coup
- In 2010 the Australian federal elections resulted in a hung parliament, with the ALP and the Liberal/National Coalition each winning 72 seats
- The balance of power lay in the hands of 6 independents who broke 4-2 for the ALP and Gillard
- The government thus rests precariously on a single vote majority
- Gillard installed Rudd as Foreign minister
- Since 2010 there have been various rumblings, including on this blog, that Rudd was going to make a leadership challenge (and if could have been seen from Boulder, then it must have been fairly obvious;-)
- The tensions have built in the past weeks, with Rudd's challenge to leadership obviously mounting
- Early this morning, US time, Rudd resigned dramatically as foreign minister
- The ALP caucus (of the 103 members of the House and Senate) is likely to have to vote on the leadership next week
- Gillard says she has 60 votes, Rudd says that both have about 30
The possible outcomes are many:
- Gillard as PM
- Rudd as PM
- Neither as PM
- A new election called by ALP
- A new election caused by a change in the majority if an independent defects
- A new election caused by a Rudd resignation (and subsequent election lost by ALP)
You don't have to be a political scientist to be enthralled by the spectacle of democracy in action.
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