If National wins ...

[Bjauck]

Winston will decide on the basis of what is good for the country, he says. That's the arrogant Winnie in full flight. Never mind that 47.5% of the country voted for one side, and 42% voted for the other. No - Winston will decide what Winston thinks is good for the country, which is Winston talk for what is best for me!

NZ has MMP but I think the politicians still act as though it is FPP. I guess it takes a long time to unravel the attitudes from 100 years of FPP and the Westminster inheritance. So we have a Frankenstein system in the meantime. Despite being voted out of his electorate, WP is revelling in the power he now has, power beyond the numbers who voted for his party. Germany has a mature MMP system, so it will be ineresting to see how their post election period unfolds in comparison.

[fungus pudding]

No, FP, you don't have it right. Of those who voted, 47.5% on the first count voted for National. But all those who enrolled and advance voted at the same time haven't been added in yet. Plus the overseas, postal and various disability votes, another 15% added to the total.

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/ar...ectid=11925871

There were also a lot who didn't vote at all, and you can assume that on average they're not doing so well under the current government.

Here are the approximate full numbers that voted.

http://www.elections.org.nz/news-med...neral-election

Since 78.8% of those who were eligible voted, there were about 690,000 NZers who abstained. Not quite the missing million this time.

There is no reason why the final count will vary much from the total - maybe change one or two seats at the most, and historically favour Greens, but there is no guarantee where they will land. People who aren't doing well under the govt. surely would be the first to vote. You are making huge assumptions.

[elZorro]

There is no reason why the final count will vary much from the total - maybe change one or two seats at the most, and historically favour Greens, but there is no guarantee where they will land. People who aren't doing well under the govt. surely would be the first to vote. You are making huge assumptions.

How many times have I been taunted by right-wing posters about how the lefties can't get all their people to vote? There's a known problem there, and it's all about privilege.

[fungus pudding]

NZ has MMP but I think the politicians still act as though it is FPP. I guess it takes a long time to unravel the attitudes from 100 years of FPP and the Westminster inheritance. So we have a Frankenstein system in the meantime. Despite being voted out of his electorate, WP is revelling in the power he now has, power beyond the numbers who voted for his party. Germany has a mature MMP system, so it will be ineresting to see how their post election period unfolds in comparison.

Peters is doing no more than the system allows. The system is a dog, and hardly an improvement on the unfair FPP which frequently put minority govts. (by vote numbers) in power. A supplementary member system, properly designed, is probably the best way to go, or even singular transferable vote; except that, given so few understand MMP it would be asking too much for voters to understand STV. Even harder than trying to undestand Peters.

[fungus pudding]

How many times have I been taunted by right-wing posters about how the lefties can't get all their people to vote? There's a known problem there, and it's all about privilege.

Ridiculous. If you can't get people to vote you can't class them as lefties. They are either totally apolitical or more probably, thick.

[iceman]

There is no reason why the final count will vary much from the total - maybe change one or two seats at the most, and historically favour Greens, but there is no guarantee where they will land. People who aren't doing well under the govt. surely would be the first to vote. You are making huge assumptions.

I agree with this FP. I find it interesting that "commentators" and leftie voters are all assuming they will gain seats from the special votes. If they lose 1 seat, they don't have a majority between Labour, Greens, NZF.

A different question is why is the electoral system this outdated ? Why are special votes not ready to be counted the day after election day ? Ridiculous.

[fungus pudding]

I agree with this FP. I find it interesting that "commentators" and leftie voters are all assuming they will gain seats from the special votes. If they lose 1 seat, they don't have a majority between Labour, Greens, NZF.

A different question is why is the electoral system this outdated ? Why are special votes not ready to be counted the day after election day ? Ridiculous.

To preserve the integrity of the system votes are kept sealed and sent back to NZ from countries all over the world, and some postal systems are slow.Tthey also return the voting books to ensure all papers issued are accounted for. Votes are then checked against the master rolls which show voting from all the NZ booths to ensure there is no double voting. It takes time. The voting system is slow, but it's thorough and nearly foolproof, which is not the case in many countries. And there's merit in thinking of eZ having to stay in nappies till the process is complete and Winnie gives the big announcement.

You're right about Labour/Greens and Winston1st possibly losing the majority. In the unlikely event of that happening, I would eventually die a happy man after seeing Winston's bubble burst.

[iceman]

To preserve the integrity of the system votes are kept sealed and sent back to NZ from countries all over the world, and some postal systems are slow.Tthey also return the voting books to ensure all papers issued are accounted for. Votes are then checked against the master rolls which show voting from all the NZ booths to ensure there is no double voting. It takes time. The voting system is slow, but it's thorough and nearly foolproof, which is not the case in many countries. And there's merit in thinking of eZ having to stay in nappies till the process is complete and Winnie gives the big announcement.
.

I vote with a special vote from NZ in elections in my old country. There, it is the responsibility of the voters to ensure their special vote has arrived with the electoral commission by the close of polling stations. The special votes are then counted at the same time as normal votes and the full results are in within 12 hours of voting finishing. NZ should do it in a similar way. Waiting 2 weeks is silly.

[craic]

Having watched this latest performance closely, my fervent wish is that the National leadership declines discuss the future with Winston Peters. Walk away with the simple message "let the NZ voters decide who is going to govern the country". The resulting chaos must inevitably lead to another election in due course. Labour would not be able to take such a stance but they will have to be a Winton Peters Labour party and they could follow him down the drain in three years.

[winner69]

Policies nah ......stable government nah .....etc etc

Tom Scott today knows what's going to sway it for Labour ...poor Bill can't match that