Australia

Y'all have first past the post / winner takes all, don't you? There was a vote recently and "labor" won from what I'm reading?

We have a (ranked choice voting) preferential vote system. You number your choices (1-8 for house of rep and 1-6 or 1-12 for senate). If the absolute majority isn’t obtained on first count the preferences are distributed until a majority is gained and that majority forms government.

Labor, coalition, independents, etc. what kinds of parties are these?

Centre-left (progressive), centre-right (conservative) and varied respectively. Independents can be anything from legalise cannabis through Kitkat Palmers (billionaire) wannabe Trump party [wrong, I lumped alt parties in with independents]. Ranked choice allows for support of smaller parties but still picking one of the main two if it comes down to a close call.

I thought Albanese was a "cunt" yet his party seems to have won again? What's going on?

Im not a fan of Albanese due to him largely coasting on important issues; like housing but Im not aware of the broader population thinking he was a cunt. After Morison (deeply moronic conservative who was last PM) he got the job and at least was professional.

Problem is Dutton, the opposition leader just had that bad a platform. Marking yet another attempt for the coalition attempting to bring US/Trump bullshit over here, being a cop who’d disobey an international court warrant, nuclear power saga and in general just being super scarce on details for his plans as PM.

Even if I’m centre left inclined, the coalitions performance this cycle still somewhat disappointed me. A weak coalition means it’s more likely for a complacent Labor party.