LIVE THREAD - New Zealand General Election

September 17, 2005 | Heatseeker

[Heatseeker]

Thought I would start a thread on the New Zealand general election - returns starting to come in now.

Non-NZ FReepers can try the live streams of Channel One News, http://tvnz.co.nz/view/news_minisite_index_skin/news_election_2005_group

or 3 News, http://www.tv3.co.nz/listings/index.cfm

[BigSkyFreeper]

elections.org

Election Results -- Overall Status

NZ Government

New Zealand Parliament (official)

[Heatseeker]

NZerFromHK or other Kiwis could provide a much better summary, but basically, Labour is the left/center party, now in power; the National Party which is now leading, is the right/center party.

New Zealand First Party seems to be primarily anti-tax and somewhat libertarian - not really sure about them. The Mâori Party represents NZ's indiginous people; United Future New Zealand - I'm not sure about. ACT is is a socially conservative party.

[BigSkyFreeper]

Yeah, and all the rest down the list are like fringe groups.

[Uriah_lost]

Sooo...if I'm interpreting this correctly, with 120 seats there will have to be a coalition to reach an absolute majority and I'm assuming that is what is required to form a government/appoint a cabinet etc. How am I doing? I'm feeling really positive right now, please tell me that's the appropriate reaction....keeping in mind that I am a right wing nut-job freeper.

[Heatseeker]

Yup, you've got it. Currently, because of something called "overhang seats" (a weird artifact of this split system of voting) parliament will be 122 seats; so a majority will need to be 62.

[Uriah_lost]

More analysis and commentary please, I'm really enjoying this....kinda like watching an "aha moment" happen!

[Aussiebabe]

Latest results show a tie, not good.

[Uriah_lost]

Yeah, it's turning into a real nail-biter!

[alessandrofiaschi]

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - Former central bank governor Don Brash appeared on course to upset New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark's Labor-led government on Saturday after a hard-fought election campaign.
The promise of personal income tax cuts appeared to have swayed New Zealand's 2.9 million voters despite Clark's track record of strong economic growth during her two terms in power stretching back to 1999.
With 20 percent of the vote counted, official election figures showed conservative National ahead with 45 percent compared with 36 percent for Labor.
Those figures would translate into 57 seats for National in an expanded 122-seat parliament, short of an overall majority but with sufficient center-right minor party partners to form a coalition. Labor was on course for 46 seats.
Party officials from both sides said it was still too early to call a definitive result.
"It will be a nose-to-nose, head-to-head result between the two major parties," Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Michael Cullen told National Radio. Volatile opinion polls in the final week of campaigning had pointed to a race that was too close to call. A victory would mark a stunning turnaround for 64-year-old Brash, a political novice who had trailed Clark by as much as 10 percentage points in opinion polls before the budget in May. Clark had warned voters the election was a choice between stable government and the economic gains of the past six years, and the likelihood of increased debt and cuts in social spending under National. But she looked set to lose power even though New Zealand has averaged 4 percent growth over the past five years -- the longest period of economic growth in half a century -- and unemployment at a near 19-year low. Clark disappointed many voters after the May budget with her promise for only small tax cuts to begin in three years. Brash in contrast campaigned strongly on the promise of tax cuts worth more than NZ$9 billion over three years. OVER-TAXED "I think probably how people felt they were being over-taxed and there was a lot of waste in the system, I think that's probably the biggest issue," National campaign manager Steven Joyce told TV One. Some voters said they had not made up their mind until they entered polling booths and went with their gut instincts. Early counting suggested the promise of tax cuts won out. "There's definitely a philosophical split between what's in it for me and what's in it for the country," said one voter in the suburb of Porirua in the capital Wellington. The promise of a close race in the closing days had suggested that some of the 17 minor parties contesting the election were shaping up as potential kingmakers. Under New Zealand's German-style proportional representation system, parties must win either a local district seat or 5 percent of the nationwide vote to get a seat in the single-chamber parliament. Although the last parliament had 120 seats, minor parties were winning more seats than expected under the system, which could result in the chamber being expanded by two seats. Of the leading minor parties, nationalist New Zealand First and the Green Party, a natural Labor ally, had both attracted about 6 percent of the vote. New Zealand First has vowed not to form a formal coalition with either of the major parties but has promised to support whichever party wins a majority on issues of supply and confidence.

[Heatseeker]

Thank you for your post! Unfortunately right now the two main parties ate tied for seats. The "New Zealand First Party" seems to hold the balance of power now.

[Uriah_lost]

Aaaargh! I'm seeing Labor pulling ahead by a thread's width....

[alessandrofiaschi]

Unfortunately, now Labor has taken a slight lead...

What about the 39,500 people on the New Zealand electoral roll with an overseas address?

[naturalman1975]

A plane was stolen from a New Zealand airport this evening. There have been reports that the pilot threatened to crash the plane into the Sky Tower, and other unconfirmed reports that he planned to crash the plane into National Party leader Don Brash's house. Plane has now crashed into water, apparently near Brash's home. Information apparently from TVNZ site. I can't access it.

[alessandrofiaschi]

National + First + United Future + ACT = majority? They could for a centre-right Coalition.

[Heatseeker]

Interesting - Radio New Zealand covered the story, said it might crash into Auckland's skytower - but nothing about Brash's home being the target.

[Heatseeker]

Unfortunately it does not sound like First will side with National, but will go with Labour - though their leader said they would decide nothing until all numbers were in.

[Uriah_lost]

How long has it been since a non-left party has been in control?

[Heatseeker]

National held power in the '90s I believe.

[NZerFromHK]

I'm back from the National Party function. We may not have won, but we tried hard, and we haven't really lost either.

[maquiladora]

I vote for....Peter Jackson!