elections

Categories under elections

The one thing Jacinda Ardern can do is speak to our hearts

Written By: - Date published: 9:03 am, December 18th, 2022 - 134 comments

Mawkish sentiment running up to Christmas perhaps, but imagine Luxon or Willis speaking hours after the Christchurch massacre. Only Ardern of the entire Parliament has the ability to govern for calm in the name of the calm we all need.

The Hamilton West by election

Written By: - Date published: 7:11 pm, December 10th, 2022 - 95 comments

The polls are now closed but someone should tell National about how on election day you should not be campaigning.

Upcoming Conflict Between Justice and Politics in the United States

Written By: - Date published: 8:08 am, November 8th, 2022 - 12 comments

Unlike even Brazil’s election and transition of power, events are going to make the full restoration of functioning democracy in the United States very, very hard and starting soon.

Sharma Sharma Sharma Sharma Sharma Chameleon

Written By: - Date published: 8:31 am, October 19th, 2022 - 74 comments

Gaurav Sharma has announced his immediate resignation from Parliament and that he will contest the by election as leader of a new centrist party.  He also claims that the Government was going to waka jump him six months from the next election but unless National agrees this is impossible.

The people have spoken

Written By: - Date published: 8:21 am, October 10th, 2022 - 147 comments

The people have spoken and with appallingly low turnout levels grumpy campaigns have succeeded and Auckland and other areas have moved to the right.

Local Government election results

Written By: - Date published: 1:52 pm, October 8th, 2022 - 256 comments

Live updates and discussion post

Own our future

Written By: - Date published: 8:48 am, October 6th, 2022 - 43 comments

This year’s Local Government election is reaching a critical stage.  And it is vital to get the right people elected.  Please make sure that your families and friends vote for progressive candidates.  Your kids and your grandkids futures depend on it.

Viv Beck going full Trump backfires

Written By: - Date published: 10:48 am, August 31st, 2022 - 28 comments

Recent leaks and publicity have caused huge damage to Viv Beck’s campaign to become Auckland’s next mayor.  They also highlight the stark difference between the left and the right in terms of campaigning.

Who will be Wellington’s next Mayor?

Written By: - Date published: 8:40 am, August 23rd, 2022 - 24 comments

The Wellington Mayoralty is shaping up to be a contest between the incumbent Andy Foster, Labour candidate Paul Eagle who will be a direct challenge to Foster’s support base and Tory Whanau who is standing on a policy basis strong on sustainability including the construction of a comprehensive connected bike network.

Why stick more fingers in the donations dyke?

Written By: - Date published: 9:50 pm, August 1st, 2022 - 13 comments

The latest attempt to construct a sensible political donations regime will likely again prove to be full of holes. Going back to basics would be much better. The good news is that the basics were comprehensively assessed 36 years ago by the 1986 Royal Commission on Electoral Reform. It recommended state funding.

Political donations law needs reform

Written By: - Date published: 2:44 pm, August 1st, 2022 - 7 comments

Judge Jagose’s decision to acquit two persons linked to New Zealand First charged with obtaining control over $750,000 has opened up rather large holes in the obligations of political parties to report donations.

How Can Labour Win in 2023?

Written By: - Date published: 8:57 am, July 7th, 2022 - 213 comments

Right now Labour is preparing the ground for its run at 2023’s election with new policy. New policy must be wildly popular. What could make Labour popular enough to them back leading a third term in government?

Matariki and Prime Minister Ardern

Written By: - Date published: 10:16 am, June 24th, 2022 - 73 comments

Plenty of experts will tell you about what Matariki ‘means to us’. Here’s what it means to Ardern.

Tamaki Makaurau’s very own wannabe Trump

Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, June 20th, 2022 - 41 comments

What started out as an ego driven campaign is now developing into full blown Trumism as Leo Molloy thrashes around attempting to court attention in the belief, Trump like, that it will convert into political support.

The Tauranga by election

Written By: - Date published: 7:00 pm, June 18th, 2022 - 64 comments

The Tauranga by election has been one of the most low key by elections held in some time. The polls are now closed. If Labour get within 25 points of National they can regard this as a victory.

The prospects of a snap election

Written By: - Date published: 2:18 pm, June 10th, 2022 - 85 comments

Various media and the National Party are speculating that there may be an early election.  What are the chances of one being called?

Climate politics

Written By: - Date published: 9:10 am, June 2nd, 2022 - 5 comments

Quick quiz on which New Zealand politicians led well on climate action in the past 15 years. Which New Zealand town is in a climate emergency today? And how our focus and voting matters if we want to avert climate disaster.

How to get the progressive government we want

Written By: - Date published: 9:59 am, May 23rd, 2022 - 95 comments

What if instead of waiting for a new left wing party to arise, the left worked with the three progressive parties we already have in parliament?

The Australian Election

Written By: - Date published: 7:08 pm, May 21st, 2022 - 66 comments

Post for people to comment on developing news about the Australian election.

The Media and the Australian election

Written By: - Date published: 2:03 pm, May 20th, 2022 - 28 comments

I cannot understand why in Australia Scotty from Marketing still has a fighting chance of remaining as Prime Minister.  But the recent tightening in the polls suggests that this is a possibility.

The Auckland Mayoralty campaign

Written By: - Date published: 1:22 pm, May 15th, 2022 - 9 comments

The Auckland mayoralty campaign promises to be a fascinating contest between a right winger promising to spend $1.5 million on the campaign and wants to turn sprinklers on the homeless and Efeso Collins who promises to run an inclusive respectful campaign.

Early voting opens in Aussie election

Written By: - Date published: 12:22 pm, May 11th, 2022 - 33 comments

The early voting polls have opened in Australia, so the election there is nigh. Reading on the election there has been interesting. The weirdness of marginal seats. The burgeoning dissatisfaction and probable deciding impact of Aussie women on this election result.

National announces receiving $1.8 million in recent donations

Written By: - Date published: 2:43 pm, April 1st, 2022 - 43 comments

National has gazumped Act’s recently announced significant donations drive and has just announced that it will shortly be filing declarations confirming that it has recently received $1.8 million in donations.

Who will be National’s Tauranga candidate

Written By: - Date published: 8:18 am, March 29th, 2022 - 66 comments

National is opening up nominations for the Tauranga by election today.  The Standard reviews some potential candidates for the seat.

Can This Government Be Saved?

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.

The Tauranga by election

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.

The Entrust election debacle

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.

Nick Smith rejoices as Jake Bezzant takes public spotlight off him

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.

A very Samoan coup

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.

What the recent elections tell us about British society

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 […]

National’s election review leaked

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.