Quote Originally Posted by Aaron View Post
I always thought it was funny that labour won the first time without changing any policy but just changed the leader who had a nice smile and a catchy slogan. Not sure what that says about the NZ voter.
No, that’s not quite right.

Though Cindy did provide the party with a boost after Cunliffe and Little ran the party into the ground, at the general election Labour still only managed 36.9% party vote.

National (under Bill English) got 44.4%. A very solid result in MMP.

But because Winnie was p1ssed off with National due to someone leaking his pension overpayment details, he did not form a coalition with the largest party (even though NZF and their voter based are much more aligned with National).

Cindy even rang Bill on election night to congratulate him as it seemed obvious that National would form the next govt.

So Cindy was only put into power because Winnie had the zig with the nats.

In the first term NZF was somewhat of a handbrake on labour. They certainly stopped their nuttier polices.

Labour was on track to be a one term govt -
then Covid hit and people decided kind, caring Cindy was just what we needed more of. So she won an absolute majority. No NZF handbrake. And the rest is history.

I actually blame Winston for the mess we are in.