Today is Election Day in Australia, and in a few hours we'll find out who the next prime minister will be – "The Turd" or "The Nerd".
By which I mean, we'll have either the very conservative Liberal Party leader John Howard returning for a 5th term of office (which run for 3 years here), or the more left-wing Labor candidate, Kevin Rudd, who wowed visiting Chinese diplomats at the APEC conference by welcoming them in fluent Mandarin.
I've never lived in another country for a federal election before, so it's interesting to see the differences, as well as to have a sense that I'm witnessing a significant part of a country's history take place. Voting is compulsory here, and people are fined for not voting – not something outrageously punitive, but enough to make it easier to just get down to the polls and do it. I think compulsory voting is a great idea, personally, and that it's shameful that in my home country, more people have voted for a reality TV singing competition than for their president. Election Day is also on a Saturday, when the majority of workers are off, so there's no issue about getting time off from work to go vote.
Of paramount strategic significance is the preferential voting system that Australia uses, meaning that votes for minor-party candidates that don't have a majority then get redistributed to a (previously announced) second party, so if you vote for the left-wing Greens candidate, for example, their votes will then get passed on to the Labor party. And best of all, the campaign season here lasts all of six weeks. Yes, that's right: a month and a half is all you have to put up with, not the juggernaut that rolls on for 18 months back in the US. (An Aussie friend was flabbergasted to find out that the election isn't until November 2008 – he thought all the campaigning that's been on the news meant the election was happening now.)
But as interesting as it's been to watch, it's frustrating to not be able to vote. After all, it's "taxation without representation", and that caused a revolution back in America (or so we're told in school). I'm a resident here, and I work and pay taxes, and am subject to these laws that I have absolutely no say in. Of course, I could become a citizen and then be able to vote, but it would take a few more years before I'd be eligible. Of course they're not going to extend voting rights to temporary residents like myself, but it's just another facet of the often liminal experience of the life of an expat.
But at least if I can't vote, I can still celebrate the outcome if the heavily favoured Rudd sweeps into power. In fact, I'm off to an Election Night party right now to watch the returns come in.
Brice, a third culture kid from Canada, has written me to let me know that the website TCK is holding a writing contest for expats, third culture kids, etc. Here is what he has to say (you'll need to get cracking as the deadline is 25 November 2007). Good luck!
Have you lived overseas and have an interesting story? Are you an expat, third culture kid, missionary kid or army brat? To enter, simply write a story. It can be on your cultural identity, your life as a TCK, relationships, or an interesting or funny experience you have had. You can be funny, poignant, witty, etc.; it is, after all ... your story.
The winner will receive $100!
Deadline is 25th November!
To participate and for more details, you can register and send your stories to tckid.com