I’ve just been having a look back over the last few elections and who I wanted to win them. I think it’s safe to say that I am an election jinx.
2004 Australian Federal Election: I have to admit that I favoured Mark Latham’s Labor Party. Thankfully I was not old enough to vote. Result: Majority Coalition victory.
2004 ACT Territory Election: Brendan Smyth’s Liberal Party. Result: Majority Labor government.
2004 U.S. Election: I was supporting the Democrats. Result: Republican George W. Bush returned as U.S. President
2006 U.S. Midterm Election: By 2006 I had swung back to the Republican party. Result: Convincing Democrat victory leaves George W. Bush a “lame duck president”.
2007 NSW State Election: Peter Debnam’s Liberal Party. Result: Morris Iemma and Labor returned to power.
2007 Australian Federal Election: Voted for and supported John Howard’s Liberal/National Coalition. Result: Kevin Rudd’s Labor Party win power with a majority parliament.
At this stage it looks like the jinx doesn’t necessarily count for people I vote for as Gary Humphries looks set to keep his senate seat. The jinx seems to have more to do with overall election outcomes, but we’ll have more data to play with after next year’s ACT Election.
Samuel