Hung parliaments

[tobyaw]

Why are hung parliaments greeted with the expectation that the large parties will do a deal with whatever small parties will make up their numbers? This puts undue power in the hands of fringe political movements (and associated pork-barrel politics).

Wouldn’t it make more sense for there to be an expectation that the two largest parties should do a deal, and hence find a compromise that matches the largest number of voters. We’ve had a National Government work for us before.

Comments

[andrewducker]

Yup. I'd be up for that.

[ggreig]

The problem is that neither party wants to give the other the credibility that a spell in government would confer. It applies to some smaller parties too, but the crucial difference is that the small party is more easily cast aside after the current term.