New South Wales is not a dictatorship

One of the most persistent political myths is that we elect the Prime Minister/Premier on election day. Certainly Simon Benson believes it:

The simple reason for this is that the people of NSW have been denied their right to have a say.

When Labor’s geniuses shafted Morris Iemma, they robbed voters of the right to choose who runs NSW. Had Iemma fallen under a bus or been forced to resign for ill-health, no one would have denied the right of the Government to choose a new leader.

But he didn’t. And yet they did.

Here he goes again:

Say what you like about Iemma but at least he was elected by the people of NSW. Rees was chosen by half a dozen unelected mugwumps from the union movement and Labor Party head office to lead a Government which is now more unpopular than Iemma’s at its worst.

Lets be clear. No voter elected Mr Iemma to the position of Premier last election day. The most that happened was he was elected to the seat of Lakemba. The Labor Party caucus then confirmed him as their leader and, as they had the parliamentary majority, he became Premier. They had every right to dump him if they chose and they did. That's how our democracy works. Unlike the Americans we do not vote for our leaders so lets not pretend we do.