Report from Gouelandia

From the not so secrets diary of President Gouel.

Gouelandia aheads the world.

The Debate

1. "Two-party politics is squeezing the life out of democracy in Gouelandia," laments Roxanne Bush, leader of the Pragmatic Radical Party. "The Liberal Conservatives and Progressive Traditionalists have a monopoly on public policy - or duopoly, whatever you want to call it. The point is that there's hardly any difference between them, and their chokehold on the electoral process lets hacks and crooks stay in office forever. Ballot access rules must be loosened so we can give the voters a truly democratic choice."
   
   
   
2. "People are afraid to support 'third' parties because they're afraid of seeing the 'bad guys' get elected," says Bill Dredd, a ballot stastician. "But if we changed the system to allow preferential voting, where you can have your votes divvied up among your other candidates if your favourite doesn't recieve a certain number of votes, then that wouldn't be a problem. Then you could let as many parties as you wanted into the game. Deserving candidates wouldn't be harmed - they'd win! Maybe a few radicals would get through, but that just proves what a great system it is!"
   
   
   
3. "What ever happened to 'one man, one vote'?" asks Melbourne Dodinas, chairperson of the Liberal Conservative National Committee. "Changing the rules will just let all sorts of crackpots clog up the ballot and overwhelm voters with names they don't recognise - this will draw attention and support away from legitimate candidates! How do you expect the nation to function properly if the government doesn't have public support? Oh, and by the way, the Liberal Conservative Party presents a VERY clear alternative to the destructive agenda of the Progressive Traditionalists, and I'll wallop anyone who says otherwise."
   
   
   
4. "Opposition parties are such a bother," muses Lars Hamilton, your chief of staff. "If we allowed as many of them to be politicians as those fools in the Pragmatic Radical Party want, it would be very hard on the tax payers - and our own position in power. If we re-wrote the election rules so that a party had to reapply for recognition every time it failed to win a certain number of votes, we could knock our opposition out of the ring for good! Hey, the voters have spoken, and they asked for us. I think that just about settles it, don't you?"

Bueno, parece que ha llegado el momento. El Partido Radical de Gouelandia ha venido con una petición mas que razonable. Acabar con el bipartidismo que reina en esta gran tierra.
Naturalmente no todos están de acuerdo con esta medida. En particular los miembros de los dos partidos únicos existentes hasta el momento. Pero seré firme en mi postura. Los Gouelandeses tienen el derecho de votar a quien dessen, y por tanto los Gouelandeses tienen el derecho de presentarse a las elecciones con el partido que deseen.

He decido, la libertad prevalecerá.


Pd. Destituir a Lars H_amilton, jefe de equipo del partido. Creo que se toma demasiado en serio su papel, y no me gusta nada ese bigotillo que se está dejando...