Fergus Finlay: Our government formation system is wonky but also precious
Our imperfect democracy seems to be the best we can do. And it’s always going to be that way
Micheál Martin and Simon Harris. Our next government looks likely to have at its core two parties who have had, give or take, their worst election performances ever.
Democracy is weird and imperfect — heaven knows we can prove that beyond a doubt. It doesn’t seem to matter that fewer and fewer people have an interest in voting — or perhaps it’s just more and more people are alienated from voting. It doesn’t seem to matter that election results are getting odder and odder, to the point where they really struggle to fit into any “normal” definition of a democratic outcome.
Our imperfect democracy seems to be the best we can do. And it’s always going to be that way. Because that’s one of the fundamentals — democracy is imperfect. And precious.
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