The failure of the Liberal party to nominate almost a third of their candidates for the New South Wales local government elections was an embarrassment for the party, and a severe setback for conservatives in a number of local councils, but it also draws attention to the crucial role that political parties play in our democracy.
It’s hard to imagine modern representative democracy functioning without parties. They play a crucial role in simplifying and clarifying the choices for voters. We know who is likely to lead a government and their policy agenda. And those who are in power can be held accountable by unhappy voters.
Parties are also tools for forming governments and crucially creating an incentive for opposition. If our parliament consisted entirely of independents it would be a lot more chaotic and difficult to understand. It would be hard to know who to hold accountable, and there would be an incentive to find a role in government for every group, providing no opposition.
It is not uncommon for some to argue that political parties don’t have a role to play in local government, but I think those same democratic principles are important at the local level, at least in large urban councils.
When a voter is confronted by a list of names without any party signals, it requires a lot more work to understand who you are voting for. Which candidates work well with others? Which represent the status quo of the council’s policies, or would represent a change? Voters shouldn’t have to do all of that work to cast an informed vote.
But democracy relies on those parties being able to do their job competently, something the Liberal party has completely failed to do at this election.
In some councils such as Penrith and the Northern Beaches, conservative voters are left entirely unrepresented. Voters face a choice of voting for someone with quite a different position, voting informal or not turning out at all. In the case of one Penrith ward, there won’t be any voting at all.
It wasn’t always like this. The Liberal party traditionally avoided running for most local councils, even while Labor had more of a council presence. Instead in large parts of Sydney there were groups of local conservative independents, some of whom may have been Liberal party members. But as the Liberals have expanded their footprint, those independents have been driven out of councils, either becoming official Liberal candidates or leaving local politics. This meant that, when the Liberal party failed to get on the ballot, they left a large part of the political spectrum completely empty.
Of course, parties are free to choose where they want to run, but generally that is known in advance, creating space for others to run. The Liberals decided to not run for a number of Sydney councils in 2021, but quite a few sitting Liberal councillors ran as independents, and other groups filled their space.
And while parties can be very helpful for local democracy, they don’t always have to be the same parties that dominate federal and state politics. In councils such as Northern Beaches, Georges River, Fairfield and Shoalhaven, there’s a local party that just exists within that one council but is as strong or stronger than the local Labor and Liberal parties. Local councils often have a different set of political issues and a different mix of voters than parliamentary jurisdictions, so it’s not surprising that different parties can thrive at the local level.
While parties play a crucial role in our democratic system, ultimately they are private organisations largely left to run themselves according to their own rules, with only a few things regulated by government. But when they don’t play their role, the democratic system doesn’t work that well.
The Liberal party’s failure is a boon to parties of the left at this year’s election. Labor will likely win majorities in a number of outer suburban councils which wouldn’t have otherwise been possible, and in councils such as Northern Beaches the Liberals have been prevented from a likely takeover of the council. But it’s not a great way to achieve democratic change.
Our democratic system relies on election results in some way reflecting how people vote – if there is a major change in voting trends, it should be reflected in a change in who is elected, who holds power and what they do with that power.
The Liberal party’s nomination fiasco is going to change who is elected to some councils, but not in a way that particularly reflects the intentions of voters.
Ultimately this democratic failure is the fault of the Liberals, but ideally this isn’t the way that democracy works.
Ben Raue is an electoral analyst and blogger who writes about elections in Australia at www.tallyroom.com.au
