COMMENT: US elections are out of control. They're too flashy, expensive and long.

We wrote off Trump's supporters as racist, white men, but they're not.

COMMENT: One of the great joys of politics is being accountable to, well, everyone.

COMMENT: The amazing thing about democracy, when you stop to think about, is that it makes the right decision far more often than not.

NZ First leader Winston Peters was too busy trying to coat-tail on Trump's success to congratulate Trump when Parliament addressed the President-elect's ascendancy.

COMMENT: Irrespective of the platitudes given on the morning after Trump, there will be no healing, no bridge across the divide.

COMMENT: A century ago it was predicted that a moron would one day live in the White House. That prediction has now come true.

COMMENT: This US presidential election is less 'Keeping up with the Kardashians' and more 'Nightmare Neighbour Next Door'.

A Pirate victory in Iceland this week would add to a string of once-impossible election results in the West.

President Barack Obama lashed out at Donald Trump's increasing claims that the presidential election is rigged, saying it undermines the US's democracy.

COMMENT: Blaming Clinton for her husband's conduct is an example of just how little respect her rival has for women.

Go ahead and sue: New York Times responds to Trump threats over "inappropriate touching" reports from women.

Whanganui has topped the poll in terms of voter involvement in this year's local body elections but at least one observer says councils

COMMENT: Two-thirds of eligible voters chose not to vote in the local government elections. Should we be unimpressed?

Top Republican all but concedes Hillary Clinton will win the presidential campaign.

COMMENT: Almost every country has a written constitution, whereas New Zealand has only 'scraps of legislation' uncodified and largely unintelligible.

mattmartinserious.eps*Rotorua mayoralty results 2013- Steve Chadwick 11,630- Kevin Winters 4789- Rob Kent 2462- Janine RangiMarie

They're not old enough to vote, but schoolchildren are having their say at the ballot box in order to learn more about how elections work.

COMMENT: There has been some debate among New Zealand political commentators about whether a candidate like Donald Trump could emerge in New Zealand, writes Stephen Mills.

COMMENT: The purpose of democracy is not to win the propaganda battle but to elect a government that is accountable to the whole community - not just a few with money to spend, writes Bryan Gould.

COMMENT: Young people represent NZ's future so more should have a say in choosing who runs it.

Democratic presidential hopeful Bernie Sanders is preparing for a protracted battle with Hillary Clinton.

Our society is certainly not perfect, but the freedoms we enjoy have been hard fought for, writes Peter Lyons. We often fail to appreciate this rich history that we have been very fortunate to inherit.

People responsible for responding to OIA requests will need to take more care in identifying the documents that have been requested and considering their content, writes Nick Russell.

If governments want to play by secret squirrel rules they can hardly accuse those who raise alarms based on best available information of scaremongering, writes Jane Kelsey.

It is frustrating that serious human rights abuses in Indonesian-controlled West Papua continue to fly below the radar, Maire Leadbeater.

Let's do away with the technology and at least experiment with a return to a more traditional form of voting in local elections - a ballot box, writes Dr Andy Asquith.

New Zealand has such a rich history of extraordinary and ground breaking women in sport, politics, academia and the arts, writes Cathy Casey. How should we celebrate their achievements?

Using randomly selected juries to make some council-level policy suggestions is arguably a good starting point for organically growing a system for Auckland, writes Nicholas Ross Smith and Zbigniew Dumienski.

Those military officers will continue to dominate politics, because 25 per cent of the votes, according to the 2008 constitution, can block any changes to the constitution, writes Gwynne Dyer.