Issue #922

by Scott Stevens

Election day is upon us and there are some very big decisions for the people of New Zealand to make. We are at a crossroad in our country’s direction. Despite both our major political parties being centrist, there is a definitive lean left or lean right future at stake for kiwis.

The Labour Party have ruled New Zealand for the past six years. The last three years they have enjoyed an absolute majority in the Beehive. No need to compromise on anything to a minor party such as NZ First, Te Pāti Māori or The Greens. The voters of New Zealand will pass judgement if they have performed in the best interests of us all as a priority over this time in power, or simply looked after their own priority people. And are they leading us down the pathway we want New Zealand to travel?

Then there is the National Party. They lead the polls and have a better chance of forming a new government than the All Blacks do of beating Ireland in the Rugby World Cup. But it is looking highly unlikely they will manage to do it alone and will need to form a coalition with one or more minor party to create the necessary majority.

There are a multitude of issues out there and it can become overwhelming sometimes deciphering all the messages on the billboards and popping up as spam advertising on your apps and websites. At the end of the day each of us will prioritise the issues that affect us most. Some will prioritise economic factors, or social, or environmental. Most of us will mix and mingle all of the above. That’s what makes us a generally well-balanced centrist society. There are of course the extremes of hard left and hard right.

Believe it or not there are 17 registered political parties vying for your vote on Saturday. Although only four minor parties have a real chance of joining Labour and National in Wellington. ACT and NZ First are more centre right then hard right, and on or around the extreme edges of the left side of politics are Te Pāti Māori and The Greens. Is this a good thing or a bad thing that one of our centrist parties may need to do a deal with a minor party to form a government?
Some will say our MMP voting system gives the minority extremes of society too much power considering their small numbers. However, this is our democratic system, so work with what we have, and make your vote count on Saturday.

If all this talk of Left and Right, Centrist and Extremes is making your decision making even harder, do what I did and use a couple of handy little websites. Both are politically neutral so fear not being honest when using them. They are votecompass.tvnz.co.nz/nz2023 and policy.nz/2023