Local Seats for Local People – Who Should be Allowed to Contest Elections
Whether candidates live in the electorate they contest is a question that induces rage with some voters.
Who are these blow-in candidates they’ve never heard of contesting the local seat?
It is a matter that raises particular attention in country seats, where being an outsider is a major disadvantage for a candidate.
But for political parties, trying to find candidates for your opponent’s safest seats is always difficult. It is an obvious truth of politics that the quality of a party’s candidates dips as the chances of the party winning a seat declines. It is a truth that becomes even more evident at elections where a party looks certain of defeat.
Serious political parties contest every seat, even if only to attract a few extra dollars from public election funding. But trying to find candidates that are qualified to stand, (think dual citizenship issues at Federal elections), doesn’t have an embarrassing social media history, and won’t start spouting loopy ideas that attract mainstream media attention, can be something of a challenge.Read More »Local Seats for Local People – Who Should be Allowed to Contest Elections