Democratic Alternative Information Service:
  Ross Garrad: Policies
  Electing a People's President:

The Nomination Process

The nomination process is the central feature of the "People's President" proposal, and serves to reduce the number of candidates in order to make the election process manageable and enhance the status of the process - and the status of candidates. In any proposal for direct election of the president, there must be a mechanism for producing a "short list" of candidates. Many undemocratic methods have been proposed, usually involving some elite group which sits in judgement on would-be candidates. Such mechanisms are unacceptable in today's deeply democratic Australia.

1. A candidate for the Presidency of the Commonwealth of Australia must be nominated in writing by

• at least ten per cent of the members of Federal Parliament ("parliamentary nomination"), or
• at least one per cent of the persons enrolled to vote at Federal elections ("elector nomination")

"Members of Federal Parliament" means MHR's and Senators. There are currently 228 of them, so 23 would be required to nominate a candidate. About 130,000 electors would be required for an "elector nomination"; a difficult but by no means impossible task for a well-known and respected Australian achiever.

The theoretical maximum number of candidates is about 110, but it is very difficult to envisage more than about five people achieving nomination - say three parliamentary nominations and two elector nominations. I believe that, on the majority of occasions, there would most likely be one nomination.

2. Nominations will close 28 days after being called. If

• less than two nominations have been received, or
• no "elector nominations" have been received,

    nominations will re-open for a further period of fourteen days.

This additional feature should increase the likelihood of the result desired by most Australians: a non-political President who can be a unifying symbol. There will inevitably be pressures towards politicisation of the office of President - this measure ensures that, if the parties wish to play political games by each nominating a candidate, they risk the emergence of a "people's candidate" who could well blow the politicians out of the water. Even if the MP's can agree on a single candidate, they will have to put their nominee before the people for two weeks before the Parliament is able to ratify that candidate, in the absence of further nominations. The same is true if there is a single candidate who has been nominated by electors. In either case, the democratic legitimacy of the Presidency will be enhanced if, in the absence of a full election, the single nomination has been placed before both people and Parliament to provide the opportunity to nominate an alternative.

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Ross Garrad, 5 November 1997