Kameel Majdali's Road Ahead

The July 2016 Australian federal election was volatile and took days to decide. Days before, the British electorate voted for BREXIT, despite the overwhelming support of the elite for BREMAIN. The US Presidential campaign is the most turbulent in history. Why is there such political volatility in the western world? How did a nation like Australia, with a reputation for political stability, get into this situation of having 5 prime ministers in 5 years and a knife’s edge election? There is a simple explanation: a lack of respect for the democratic process. As mentioned earlier, in 5 years, 3 prime ministers were replaced by a backroom party manoeuvres, not by the electorate. When an elected leader stands and falls because of his/her colleagues, rather than the voters, this is NOT democracy. The Australian voters, who elected the Rudd government in 2007, should have had a chance to vote for or against it in the 2010 Federal Election. The same applies to the Abbott...

First, there was the UK ‘In or Out’ Referendum on European Union membership on June 23, 2016. Despite the support of business, media, major political parties, and the UK Prime Minister himself, the ‘Leave Campaign,’ popularly known as ‘BREXIT,’ prevailed. Immediately, the pound sterling dropped to a 30 year low, the stock market fell, and the global economy was shaken. On the other side of the world, Australia went to the polls on July 2nd in a ‘double-dissolution’ election. This means that all seats in the Australian parliament, the House of Representatives and the Senate, were up for grabs. By all accounts, the fact that the election was on a knife’s edge for days afterwards, and the prospect of continued political instability, does not bode well for the ‘land down under.’ The ruling Liberal-National Coalition government, led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, asked to be returned to power for a second term. Mr. Turnbull, who was not originally elected as PM, successful...