The results are in and it’s unequivocal. The Australia Labor Party has been elected to govern Australia in a landslide victory over the Liberal Party.

The full implications of this aren’t clear yet, but after 11 years of the same government, there are sure to be changes. New faces, new ideas, new policies. Hopefully, they will be for the better.

Whilst, among other things, I’m gladdened by the ALP’s plans to rein in some of the unfair aspects of the previous government’s employment laws, and its plans to be serious on climate change (signing the Kyoto Treaty for a start) I also believe the Liberals have done a pretty good job managing the country’s economy. I hope this will continue under the new Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, and his team.

Meanwhile the Liberal Party will soon be electing a new leader. I’d love to see Malcolm Turnbull get the job. He’s smart, socially progressive, favors Australia becoming a republic (hear, hear!) and - having built a fortune in business - has an entrepreneurial bent.

In two days time, Australians will be voting for their next Federal Government. All indications are that the country will be replacing the existing Liberal Government with an Australian Labor Party (ALP) Government.

In my opinion, both major parties - the Liberals (the more “conservative” party) and the ALP (the more left-wing party) - have similar policies in most areas. Sure, they may have different philosophical underpinnings, but for all intents and purposes they really only differ on certain issues that may, or may not be, important to various people. These are issues like the employment laws and the environment.

As you might imagine, political campaigning is quite the spectacle. All the relevant parties spend millions of dollars on political advertising, “touring” and other promotional efforts. Political marketing in Australia is pretty sophisticated too. A lot of polling, analysis and testing goes on to craft just the right message to the right target market. From a marketer’s point of view, it’s absolutely fascinating.

This doesn’t mean the campaigns work… or that people base their vote on an advertising campaign. But how people do come to vote, and why and how certain campaigns are constructed, who they’re designed to appeal to, and what their objective is, is all very interesting.

So… will it be close… or an ALP landslide? Well, we’re hosting an “election party” on Saturday night to celebrate or commiserate (depending on your view) as the votes are counted, the results come in, some candidates win, others lose, and the new government is decided.

I can’t believe some people find politics boring!