Recently, I tweeted:
I then started to think while I may consider election 2013 to be memorable; others may prefer to forget it. What is it that makes an election memorable?
Since attaining the right to vote in 1991 upon turning 18 I’ve now voted in eight federal elections of which three I find memorable: 1993, 2010, and 2013. Each is memorable for different reasons: ’93 was my first election, 2010 was my first election resulting in a minority government and female Prime Minister, and 2013 my first witnessing of electoral administration challenges.
The 1993 election was memorable for me because it was the first federal election in which I voted. The Liberal Party’s Fightback! wasn’t enough to defeat the incumbent Labor government. It was described as the “sweetest victory of all” by then Prime Minister Paul Keating. The win marked the fifth term of a Labor government and perhaps vindicated Keating’s toppling of Bob Hawke in 1991.
I found the 2010 election memorable because of the lead-up and the formation of government itself. On the night of the spill prior to the election being called I remember watching events unfold on Twitter before running in and turning the TV on saying “watch this”. Julia Gillard believed “a good government was losing its way” and was installed as leader of the Labor party toppling the then Prime Minister Kevin Rudd. Julia Gillard became Australia’s first female Prime Minister. The election was quickly called and Labor and the Coalition ended up with an equal number of seats, although Labor successfully negotiated with the cross benches to form government. It was the lead-up (toppling of a first-term PM) and the result (a minority government lead by Australia’s first female PM) which makes the 2010 election memorable for me.
Then to the recent 2013 election where we’ve witnessed the rise of a new minor party in the Palmer United Party (PUP) which has secured Senate seats and possibly a seat in the House of Representatives. We’ve seen minor parties in some states secure Senate seats through preference deals or due to fortunate ballot paper positioning . We’ve also had a Senate recount for a State concluding in the Australian Electoral Commission announcing the loss of 1,375 votes. As a result the 2013 election is memorable for me as it exposes the belly of the administration of democracy: how money helps to get your candidates known (PUP), how knowledge of the system can game the outcome (preference deals), and how fragile the process can be (lost votes).
Enough about me, what about you? What makes an election memorable for you, if at all? Is participation important to make it memorable or are they memorable because of their historical impact (e.g. the Dismissal)?
Paul Davis is a middle level manager by day and at night dreams of writing a brilliant PHD and/or fiction novel.
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