re: #204 Grunthos the Flatulent

Australian senator, please. And his election there was a freak artefact of their preferential voting system.

Perhaps he’s feeling the heat because the terrorist is an Australian citizen.

(NZ has a unicameral legislature. There is no Upper House of any description.)

Except it kind of really wasn’t? Their system is fairly similar to what we have around here - candidates are listed by party, and members get elected in order of number of votes attained except when enough voters as would normally be enough for a seat vote for someone far enough down the list that he wouldn’t otherwise get elected; in that case that candidate takes precedence over the normal ranking on that list.
Most of Europe basically elects their legislatures that way. And the guy third on the list only getting a handful of preferential votes with most voters just ticking the top box on the list is basically expected.
Yeah, the second on the list turned out not to be eligible due to immigration issues (which for an anti-immigration party is fecking hilarious) and that got him in as third on the list. Honestly though, that’s not a freak of the system so much as it is the system working as intended.
Third on the list for a party that wins two seats is NOT an unelectable position. Not even close.

…This all quite aside from him being an enormous ass, of course. But that’s the thing with democracy; voters are often more than capable of electing a couple of those without it being “a freak of the system”.