Written By: - Date published: 5:43 pm, March 25th, 2022 - 118 comments
Can Labour win a third term? Here are some pathways up, and some pathways down.
Written By: - Date published: 7:55 am, March 16th, 2022 - 67 comments
By elections are at the best of times dramatic events. Given current circumstances and a well funded although deeply unpopular anti vaccine movement and the likely candidacy of Winston Peters the Tauranga by election is likely to be a circus.
Written By: - Date published: 10:43 am, October 31st, 2021 - 56 comments
National aligned C&R has shown how bad it is at running elections by running an election where less than one in ten eligible people voted.
Written By: - Date published: 2:41 pm, June 2nd, 2021 - 15 comments
Jake Bezzant was meant to be one of National’s bright new things, having last year been selected in then safe Upper Harbour. If things were normal he would be in Parliament right now. Instead an internal leaking campaign destroyed his chances and it now transpires that he has engaged in behaviour that is certainly immoral and should be illegal.
Written By: - Date published: 10:07 am, May 23rd, 2021 - 43 comments
In overnight news the Samoan head of state Tuimalealiifano Vaaletoa Sualauvi II has suspended the recalling of Parliament due to occur on Monday throwing Samoa’s democracy into turmoil.
Written By: - Date published: 11:31 pm, May 17th, 2021 - 35 comments
Originally posted on Nick Kelly’s Blog In a nation that has suffered over 100,000 COVID-19 deaths, one may be somewhat taken aback to see the latest YouGov Poll where The Conservative Party enjoy a 15% lead over the Labour Opposition. 17 months after the Conservatives won the 2019 General Election, it would be easy to […]
Written By: - Date published: 7:33 am, April 29th, 2021 - 20 comments
It was only a matter of time. Tova O’Brien at Newshub has been leaked a copy of the abridged version of the National Party election review.
Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, April 13th, 2021 - 14 comments
The Electoral laws about donations are pretty clear. Receive a donation over $30,000 and you should tell the Electoral Commission about the report within the next ten working days. But the Maori Party and the National Party have both managed to recently breach this simple requirement.
Written By: - Date published: 12:21 pm, April 5th, 2021 - 17 comments
The New York Times is reporting that the Trump Campaign sucked in a whole lot of republican voters by asking for urgent donations but then treating them as regular rather than one off donations unless donors discovered and clicked on a well hidden check box.
Written By: - Date published: 10:39 am, March 28th, 2021 - 217 comments
Media has been abuzz with comment about how last election Grant Robertson has backtracked on a promise on not extending the bright line test. Should politicians stick to their pronouncements no matter what? Or should they change their minds if circumstances demand a change in course?
Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, March 23rd, 2021 - 41 comments
I am going out on a limb here but I think that Comrade Chris Trotter suggesting that Jacinda Ardern may resign as Prime Minister may be overhashed.
Written By: - Date published: 8:42 pm, March 16th, 2021 - 45 comments
Media claims that Ardern’s support have peaked and are tanking are way too premature.
Written By: - Date published: 9:45 am, March 15th, 2021 - 8 comments
The weekend state elections in West Australia are a astonishing landslide. On top of nearly a 13% two party swing swing for Labour in 2017, there appears to have been about a 17% swing to Labour in the weekend election in preliminary results. The Liberals are likely to be left with just 2 seats in a 59 seat Assembly. The main opposition party, now the National party, with 3 seats.
Written By: - Date published: 6:05 am, December 9th, 2020 - 65 comments
There is now growing recognition internationally that the right to a dignified death is a fundamental human right. Assisted dying is not about reducing health care costs or pressuring those who are frail, old or disabled to end their life prematurely. It is about allowing those with a terminal illness the choice to die rather than face a period of significant physical decline and suffering before the end of their life.
Written By: - Date published: 7:53 am, December 8th, 2020 - 57 comments
A group of more than 350 people have applied to the High Court to try and void the reeferendum result.
Written By: - Date published: 9:11 pm, November 26th, 2020 - 9 comments
Ibrahim Omer, refugee, trade unionist, and living wage advocate gave his maiden speech today in Parliament. If you want to watch an outstanding speech and shed a tear or two watch this.
Written By: - Date published: 7:45 am, November 24th, 2020 - 62 comments
National wants to work out what went wrong during the last election.
Written By: - Date published: 8:05 am, November 23rd, 2020 - 22 comments
Over in the US of A some amazing claims are being made with Trump’a lawyer claiming that in Georgia, which has perfected the art of disenfranchising Black American voters, there has been a deep seated conspiracy to lose the state for Trump. And Venezuela is involved.
Written By: - Date published: 9:47 am, November 22nd, 2020 - 64 comments
National has heeded the calls for change and rejuvination by returning Peter Goodfellow as its president.
Written By: - Date published: 12:30 am, November 19th, 2020 - 8 comments
The reality is that the United States is a poor example of a functioning democracy in 2020.
Written By: - Date published: 7:43 am, November 10th, 2020 - 76 comments
Now the dust is settling on the US election result the one question I have is why was it even close?
Written By: - Date published: 2:26 pm, November 6th, 2020 - 56 comments
The Electoral Commission has released the final results of the 2020 election and if election night was a shocker for National the final result is even worse.
Written By: - Date published: 4:08 pm, October 31st, 2020 - 139 comments
Which way are the Greens going to jump?
Written By: - Date published: 2:46 pm, October 30th, 2020 - 207 comments
The referendum seeking to decriminalise cannabis appears to have failed narrowly although special votes are still to be counted.
Written By: - Date published: 8:44 am, October 30th, 2020 - 39 comments
There has been a rather patronising meme running in recent weeks that voters who previously voted National did so because they wanted to make sure Labour didn’t want the Greens to be in government. Just complete bullshit. As far as I can see most voters and their MPs vote for our collective future like I do and expect the political mixing to provide good outcomes for us all.
Written By: - Date published: 8:09 am, October 29th, 2020 - 55 comments
Fox News has seized upon a four month old video of Jacinda Ardern to suggest that New Zealand has a terrifying new response to the disease and are throwing people into quarantine camps.
Written By: - Date published: 10:01 am, October 25th, 2020 - 74 comments
With the hand brake gone and the Government’s policy platform already complete what should the Labour Government set out to achieve this term?
Written By: - Date published: 8:49 am, October 24th, 2020 - 42 comments
As National reels from the disastrous 2020 election result could a policy based on high tech agriculture represent a way back?
Written By: - Date published: 9:49 am, October 22nd, 2020 - 41 comments
What are the lessons to be learned from Chloe Swarbrick’s election night win of Auckland Central.
Written By: - Date published: 12:27 am, October 20th, 2020 - 47 comments
The 2020 election was more than just a victory for Labour and more than a crushing defeat for the National Party (New Zealand’s main centre-right political party). This result marks a significant watershed in New Zealand politics which will likely have implications long after this parliamentary term.
Written By: - Date published: 12:32 pm, October 18th, 2020 - 135 comments
What kind of government might New Zealand have?
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