Why 100% of Parliament needs to agree to postponing the election
The issues around the Election date has come to the forefront by Winston going public with statements about postponing the September 19th election date to November 21st.
Graeme Edgeler has done the hard yards on the technicalities of the law and what they allow over at Public Address.
I think that while the technical parameters are a super majority of 75%, it would be good to have every political party currently in Parliament on board with a decision to move the stated election date of September 19th.
Personally I think the threat of the pandemic is enough of a reason to postpone the election until November 21st.
It has public health implications and mental health ramifications and allows the political parties to actually catch their breath and put together a political response to what has been an unprecedented and unplanned national emergency.
It is unfair to the small parties to have so little oxygen, it is extremely unfair to the Opposition who have been starved of the ability to hold the Government to account, and it is incredibly difficult to a Government who are actively managing the crisis to participate in something as intensive as an election campaign.
BUT
We should work to get every political party in Parliament on board, that’s Labour, NZ First, Green, National and ACT, so that it carries total political solidarity.
As it is, there are enough frightened and vocal voices on social media claiming this pandemic is a bioweapon spread by 5G, postponing the election while we have a functioning Police State in effect will be like putting out the fire with gasoline.
Getting all Parties on board matters and if it takes time to to talk them around, that time should be spent.
If all else fails, gain it with the super majority, but solidarity to postpone an election is crucial to avoid fuelling social media conspiracy.
This matters because the moment you start being able to question the legitimacy of a Government, the easier to is to ferment violent radicalism as a response.
This stuff matters.
Nope.
September election please.
With David Clarke a ministerial example, there is plenty of time for politicians on full pay to organize a campaign working from home. Less bike rides and walks on the beach.
Our democracy and freedoms have already been eroded more than they should have been.
A later election works better for the opposition as you say, more oxygen fur then less endless patronizing PM press conferences, and more time for people to be frustrated and feel the economic effects of the lockdown, but don’t be changing yet another factor of our diminished lives in our new police state.
I’d like to vote the government out sooner rather than later please.
Why not. Voting has become in my view a futile gesture anyway.
Totally agree. We will all need to be more clear-minded when voting time comes around.
After listening to Winston and Paula National and NZF are in step on this. It seems some people did not learn by the debacle of the last census when it is suggested that we have electronic voting.
Yes.
In my view, Jacinda is on a roll.
2 months ago I reckon she was going out the back door as fast as she came in.
But she has done well Covid 19
Politics is fickle.
People forget the good real quick.
Absolute no brainer for Labour ( and I am not a Labour voter as a rule) for Jacinda to grab the chalice while it’s full.
Economic grief will really set in around Xmas. And government will get the blame.
Much better to be starting a new term than finishing the old and an election.
The lockdown has undoubtedly saved lives but THE OECD say our economy will be one of the worst hit. It was a hard call but most would agree the right one but the government must increase WINZ staff and get more mental health workers in the system. Perhaps we can keep some of the NZ workers coming back from Australia who they do not want.
Rather than having more WINZ staff the government has to also create more jobs than is being destroyed how ever we run the risk of over cooking the economy with inflation. WINZ is processing online applications anyway.
“unfair to the Opposition who have been starved of the ability to hold the Government to account”
Oh puhleese.
starved of the ability to hold the Government to account
I missed that bit – Must have read it too fast.
That statement is simply incorrect. Three days a week they have time and space to get together in full public view and rant their little Natty hearts out.
November is Winston’s choice. Too close to Christmas which I hope we will be able to celebrate. Also there needs to be time for the next government to do something meaningful before the Christmas wind-down and New Year. October at the latest. But better still put it off for a year – we are in a very shaken situation and don’t want some smartalec change agents coming in topsy-turvy just to show they are different. I don’t want to be an experiment for some new approach for some new policy that has been bought from some bigger country and which wil involve making someone here wealthy at the expense of the rest of us.
Nope. September election please. Less chance for National to engage in dirty politics. More chance for Labour to govern without Winston……. a 3 year chance to consolidate the ideal of caring governance and prove that when the people come right, the economy comes right.
No thank Denny Paoa to National cant stand the horrible lot I come from a National background and I know my Dad would roll in his grave to see what National has done to this country they are not fit to govern. SS is a horrible lying little man only out for his glory u can keep him
I reckon it’s ‘foment’, not ‘ferment’. Stirring the cauldron, not making wine.
Whichever date is set, there needs to be a concerted drive before that date, to ensure that people are enrolled to vote, that they understand the voting procedure, and that they realise the value of their vote.
Those who don’t vote are unlikely to be corporate reps or the uber-wealthy sector. That lot have all the access and comprehension and ‘voice’ that they could wish for and more. But there’s a mass of disaffected people, real people here in AO/ NZ who have previously felt disconnected and disempowered, who have not felt that their voices counted for anything, or would even be heard.
If our system is to be truly democratic then there needs to be a full and fair representation. The entire population needs to feel they are a valued part of the whole and that their vote really does count. In the 2017 election 692,155 enrolled voters did not vote. Just over 20%! That number could surely sway an election. A true representation of who the people of Aotearoa NZ want for their leaders, and choose to trust with their government, must include this lost 20%.
Linked reference for voting stats/ numbers who did not vote: Elections NZ 2017 Voter Turnout Stats
Why would Labour want to delay the election when Jacinda has done such a stellar job, again, in a crisis? Jeez Martyn, back the truck up. What are you promoting?