Not so much in praise of the parliamentary system

A companion piece to an earlier post, of sorts

And in other voting-related news, Serbia has a new government—finally—after the elections in January. Back in January, I was a fan of the parliamentary system; proportional representation is such a fine idea. The past four months of constant news about negotiations between political parties to form a new government (and the final result being exactly what most people were predicting in the days after the election) has made me appreciate the simplicity of the winner-take-all American electoral system (well, except for the electoral college, which is still ridiculous [and the 2000 pregnant chad debacle and the most recent Washington State governor’s race]).

So no one is too surprised by the new government, but it does come as some relief. The acting leader (the official leader is on trial in The Hague) of the Serbian Radical (and not in a good way) Party became assembly speaker for a bit.

After five days of him, the more centrist parties that are in the government look lovely by comparison.