What are the Governor Generals options?
It is possible that the Governor General may be called upon to use some discretion. If the prime minister asks for an election, then the Governor General would have to very carefully consider that. But the Governor General would be on very solid grounds to say, no election, let’s see if we can get another government going. It’s certainly within her power and, if the prime minister asks for an election, I think the Governor General would turn him down. I think the fact that we just had an election would be sufficient to let a second person try to form a government. If the opposition parties came up with a deal, and the key aspect is who the leader would be, then she should probably call on that individual to form a government. In terms of exact steps, it can get complicated quite quickly, although the broad parameters are quite obvious.
