Written By: - Date published: 10:18 am, November 5th, 2023 - 48 comments
The final results in the Māori electorates clearly indicate that there was a great deal of strategic voting taking place.
Written By: - Date published: 2:38 pm, November 3rd, 2023 - 166 comments
National loses 2 electorate seats to Labour. Te Pāti Māori picked up two electorate seats from Labour which means that parliament will have a 2 seat overhang. Greens gain a seat. Nact needs a coalition buddy. Now we’re looking at the coalition phase of the long wait. Time to pull out the popcorn.
Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, November 3rd, 2023 - 32 comments
Today we will get the final election counts. It will now include the estimated specials of 20.2% of the vote. This can change the precise balance in parliament. A NAct coalition will probably require a partner party to secure a reliable majority. Unfortunately past political history is going to make that awkward. The chaos will be great for a political blog of the left. Not so good for the country.
Written By: - Date published: 10:06 am, November 3rd, 2023 - 34 comments
Now that the dust is settling it is time for the Labour Party to think about its future.
Written By: - Date published: 4:43 pm, November 2nd, 2023 - 18 comments
In 2021, I voted against Labour’s conference proposal for midstream leadership change to be determined by Caucus alone, saying that it risked Labour becoming a cadre party for elites. A series of posts will start with why the Caucus should not rush to a leadership vote.
Written By: - Date published: 10:58 am, October 23rd, 2023 - 87 comments
Labour day is a good day for all progressives to start getting organised for the next three years and working on the election of the next progressive Government.
Written By: - Date published: 8:18 am, October 17th, 2023 - 57 comments
Special vote counts may see Labour win back some important electorate seats and see the National/Act majority vanish.
Written By: - Date published: 6:03 am, October 17th, 2023 - 45 comments
In parliamentary politics, there are no final victories. After losing the 2023 election, Labour must now immediately focus on winning in 2026.
Written By: - Date published: 12:05 pm, October 15th, 2023 - 75 comments
The trad left/right spectrum people are wondering why the Greens are so happy. Didn’t the left just lose?
Written By: - Date published: 9:52 am, October 15th, 2023 - 129 comments
Last night was not a good night for the Labour Party …
Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, October 14th, 2023 - 237 comments
A post for election night discussion on the Standard (and links for where to watch).
Written By: - Date published: 8:12 pm, October 13th, 2023 - 8 comments
Last post before election day but the big mo is on and the election is getting closer and closer.
Written By: - Date published: 7:45 pm, October 13th, 2023 - Comments Off on Election day rules
The rules about election day are pretty clear. You may only keep existing election material up on a website or social media if all the following apply. This time we will start moderating all comments with rules at midnight. OpenMike will be the only open post. Normal service back at 7pm
Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, October 13th, 2023 - 42 comments
It is very clear now why National did not agree to a further debate between the leaders. Last night’s debate between Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luzon was totally one sided.
Written By: - Date published: 8:06 am, October 12th, 2023 - 52 comments
Two new polls were released last night and they both confirm a tightening of the race with the right slumping and the left improving.
Written By: - Date published: 8:33 am, October 10th, 2023 - 12 comments
What has happened to the fine art of intelligent heckling?
Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, October 10th, 2023 - 5 comments
The sad thing about the NZ COVID response is that overall it did deliver in that it protected the public health system and saved lives. But expectations about stopping all community transmission were set too high, and walking back from that politically has been challenging for Labour.
Written By: - Date published: 10:50 am, October 9th, 2023 - 46 comments
National has over the past couple of weeks indicated that it will ring Winston if it needs his votes, then saying that if he negotiates too hard it will seek a further election. This is real coalition of chaos stuff.
Written By: - Date published: 11:49 am, October 8th, 2023 - 48 comments
Recent polls suggest that National and Act is going backward while Labour has stabilised. A win for the left is possible but this last week will be all important.
Written By: - Date published: 1:38 pm, October 6th, 2023 - 15 comments
The minor leader’s debate last night confirmed the fact that David Seymour and Winston Peters hate each other.
Written By: - Date published: 6:15 am, October 6th, 2023 - 42 comments
Watching the 2023 election campaign in New Zealand, one of Labour’s challenges appears to be that it has failed to manage voters’ expectations over the last six years. Recalling the election campaign in 2017, Jacinda Ardern gave people hope that politics could be different. However government is about handling problems – like building at scale and pandemics.
Written By: - Date published: 10:10 am, October 5th, 2023 - 16 comments
National says it is not interested in meeting its financial obligations under the international Paris Agreement on climate change, signed by the previous National government. Reneging on the accord will have huge trade, diplomatic and reputational damage implications.
Written By: - Date published: 8:15 am, October 5th, 2023 - 9 comments
In recent times Goldman Sax has warned National that its policies will hurt the economy. And S&P has praised Labour’s handling of the economy and expressed a high assessment of various factors relating to the country.
Written By: - Date published: 11:22 am, October 4th, 2023 - 30 comments
In a week of weird events National’s decision not to debate Labour in the Press’s leader’s debate has been a massive own goal because the country will be able to see how toxic David Seymour’s and Winston Peters’ relationship is.
Written By: - Date published: 10:49 am, October 2nd, 2023 - 116 comments
Jack Tame vs Winston Peters.
Written By: - Date published: 7:30 am, October 1st, 2023 - 5 comments
Skyfall was 10 years ago but it has a message for all public servants local or central as you choose your vote.
Written By: - Date published: 8:46 am, September 29th, 2023 - 39 comments
Chris Hipkins has upped the ante in the election campaign by directly calling out the right’s use of dog whistle racism.
Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, September 29th, 2023 - 19 comments
“If you triple your vote, we triple our power to protect people and planet”
Written By: - Date published: 10:31 pm, September 27th, 2023 - 16 comments
Earlier this year Andrew Marr wrote in the New Statesmen, that Britain’s problem was that it wanted Scandinavian levels of Public Services and North American levels of taxation. His view was that Britain was overdue for an honest debate about tax and public spending. In New Zealand, there is a similar challenge.
Written By: - Date published: 2:18 pm, September 27th, 2023 - 26 comments
National’s failure to adequately explain how its new revenue policies will work has seen its support sag. And its problem is that if it depends on Winston Peters for confidence and supply he has expressed major reservations about these policies and there is no guarantee he will support them. And a significant majority of New Zealanders understand this.
Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, September 27th, 2023 - 31 comments
Don’t share defeatist bollocks. It tells swing, undecided and habitual non-voters to not bother voting left. Instead, there are still actions that will make a difference over the next three weeks.
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