Alan's Green Thoughts' guide to the New Zealand election of 2017

Having arrived back from my Bank Holiday weekend holiday in Skegness, Lincolnshire, I am glad to have this rest to bring you my guide to the New Zealand general election of 2017.

Sixteen parties in total have been approved for candidacy in this election, which are: National, Labour, Green, NZ First, ACT (Association of Consumers and Taxpayers), United Future, Maori, Mana (more left-wing version of the Maori Party), Internet (not in an alliance with Mana this year), Conservative, Legalise Cannabis, Ban 1080 (1080 is a type of anti-possum poison known to have detrimental environmental effects), Democrats, and three new entrants in the form of The Opportunities Party, Outdoors, and the People's Party (a minority rights party). 23 MPs of the current 121 are retiring, most notably including former PM John Key, former Green leader Metiria Turei after admission of past benefit fraud (fellow Green MPs David Clendon and Kennedy Graham also announced their retirement as a result) former Labour leader David Cunliffe, newcomer Todd Barclay after a clandestine recording scandal, and United Future's only MP, Peter Dunne, also one of the longest serving MPs in New Zealand (he has been an MP since 1984, much longer than most).

The election of Jacinda Ardern as Labour leader in New Zealand, combined with woes for the New Zealand Greens, has worked wonders for Labour who were making little progress previously. Labour are now on course to stop Bill English from being re-elected as Prime Minister, but NZ First and the Greens' performances will once again become critical, as will the outside chance of the Opportunities Party crossing the 5% threshold. With only 120 seats available in the New Zealand Parliament (excluding overhang seats), even two or three seats become critical. Meanwhile, the New Zealand Conservative Party has lost any real credibility since the departure of Colin Craig and no longer presents a threat to the Nationals, and the People's Party is not likely to do any real damage to Labour. United Future is set to be wiped out as a consequence of Peter Dunne's retirement (he has survived due to tactical voting by National voters, with United Future never polling more than even 1% now) and ACT, with similarly poor ratings, will only survive if David Seymour is re-elected, and his majority in the electorate of Epsom is not that safe.

New Zealand's MMP system is one that works very effectively-and is one Britain needs to adopt fast to achieve real stability.













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