In the 1992 election 1655 candidates contested 109 seats. This resulted in half the winning candidates receiving less than 20 per cent of the vote in their electorate. Only five candidates scored 50 per cent or more. The result is that governments are elected by a small fraction of the total voting population in spite of high voter turn-outs. Electorate control on the activities of governments is therefore minimal.
Political parties are parliament-based alliances of convenience.
Switching between opposition and government in search of cabinet posts and other rewards is common. As more than half the MPs lose their seats every election, short-term rewards are eagerly sought while they are available. Ironically, the rapid turn-over in MPs infuses the system with a degree of stability by handing control of the numbers game to a few long term members. Since 1975 there have only been four Prime Ministers, who musical-chair in and out of office. Numbers game politics means that political support has to be pork-barreled.