Let’s be very clear as to what this Regional Council shake up is actually about.
It is a gerrymander to rig local elections the same way National are rigging the special votes provisions of the national elections.
It is a sick power grab to privatise local council assets and allow National’s donors to commit whatever environmental vandalism they like to turn a buck.
The real crux of the change is in the voting process that National intend to gerrymander.
There are two voting models being explored.
The first is 5 votes for each new council based on simple majority.
That would be 1 Urban vote, 1 Town vote and 3 Rural votes. If the 3 Rural votes all vote together, they will always win all decisions.
The second voting method is proportional so Urban would have 70%, Town would have 15% and the 3 Rural appointees would have 5% each. In that system, Urban always wins and there is no way National will allow that!
Remember, regardless of which voting system they establish, the Government will still have the power to overturn those decisions anyway.
It is a naked power grab which National will do everything to ensure their rural mates get to rig.
Some will argue I am being unfair on National and that the decision on which voting system will be used hasn’t even been decided yet, but I would point to the way National have gerrymandered special voting for the next election and argue they are rigging the process because they realise they can’t stop the demographic realities of democracy to keep propping up their minority interests any longer and are just naked about their venal self interest now.
National will rig this to ensure their Rural mates always win.
The NZ Left keep underestimating how far this Right Wing Government will go to entrench their privilege.
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