Compulsory voting changes more than the number of voters: It changes who runs for office and the policy proposals they support.In a compulsory election, it does not pay to energize your base to the exclusion of all other voters. Since elections cannot be determined by turnout, they are decided by swing voters and won in the center.
Australia has its share of xenophobic politicians, but they tend to dwell in minor parties that do not even pretend they can form a government. That is one reason Australia’s version of the far right lacks anything like the power of its European or American counterparts.
Australia has had some bad governments, but it hasn’t had any truly extreme ones and it isn’t nearly as vulnerable to demagogues.
