What would happen if there was an independent majority?

Hotale.com

Explains itself really.. Would they have to form some sort of in-house party, or would they have to elect a Taoiseach/tanaiste themselves?

bradlente

Democ...racy?:o

Hotale.com

bradlente wrote: »

Democ...racy?:o

Ok...ay?:o

bigroad

Mick wallace for Taoiseach.......yea right.

Simi

Libya?

doolox

...meet and have to come up with majority of TD's voting for the same candidate in order to get a Taoiseach selected.The party system is simply a convenience which lets the electorate know who becomes Taoiseach if a Party candidate is elected in a particular constituency. So if a FG candidate is elected in your constituency and in most others the chances are pretty high that an FG leader will become Taoiseach. It becomes tricky if there are a multitude of smaller parties and independents elected as the there is no way to be sure who become Taoiseach. Say if SF, FF and Labour each get about 25 seats each and there are also 10 independents of various political shades elected then each of the Parties will be jockeying for power and will be promising each of the Independents lots of goodies for their constituency in order to get their party leader into the top spot.

The TD's select the Taoiseach, then it is he alone who picks the rest of the government ministers usually but not necessarily from Party TDs and allied Party TD's if no party has an overall majority. Then the Taoiseach and the Ministers go to the Arus and Uactaran to receive their seals of office from the president to make the whole deal official.

Such governments would be very prone to pressure from local political issues and losing support of the independents at innopportune times. Snap elections could happen earlier than planned and this would look bad on the international scene and be bad for investment and jobs. It could be advantageous for those people of independent means and secure jobs who could have more money to themselves as a weak govt would be afraid to tax people heavily in case they lose precious support.In business terms unstable govts tend to increase borrowing costs on international markets as it increases uncertainty of payback.

The present arrangement, a super majority, is bad for ordinary people in this regard because the govt can afford to lose a lot of support while taxing people heavily and doing unpopular things. We have yet to see the advantages of stable government in terms of more jobs and inward investment coming about but it might arise if the present outfit get a 2nd term.

Godge

Hotale.com wrote: »

Explains itself really.. Would they have to form some sort of in-house party, or would they have to elect a Taoiseach/tanaiste themselves?

They would elect a Taoiseach and when he could only appoint 15 of them to Minister's jobs, the rest would fire him the following week.

expectationlost

Godge wrote: »

They would elect a Taoiseach and when he could only appoint 15 of them to Minister's jobs, the rest would fire him the following week.

thats what chairs and vice chairs of committees are for