OPINION
Nothing says desperation quite like concocting a scenario that has never happened in nine elections under MMP. Yet here we are, just six days out from the election, with National screaming and ranting that we could have a second election if they can’t do a deal with NZ First.
The National Party has ramped up its efforts to try to stop NZ First holding the balance of power by raising the prospect of a second election, warning there was “a very real and growing possibility” National could not get a deal done, or of a hung parliament.
It comes as polls show it is increasingly likely National will need both NZ First and Act to form a government, despite National leader Christopher Luxon’s pleas to voters to deliver a clear two-party hand to him.
National’s campaign chair Chris Bishop said there was a scenario in which the left and right blocs got 60 seats all – “that chance is a real one and growing.”
“The second scenario is when there is essentially a hung Parliament and NZ First is in the middle, but it is just impossible to do a deal between National, Act and NZ First. That is a very real and growing possibility and that would necessitate, essentially, a second election.”
“We are concerned there would be an inability to strike a deal in the interests of the country.
“We will pick up the phone if we have to and try to make it work. But there is a real possibility of the necessity of a second election and it’s a growing one, unless people cast a strong vote for change.”
NZ Herald
Let’s get this straight, National are telling us that their great leader, a man steeped in business and successfully running an airline in the past, thinks he can’t cut a deal with NZ First?
Did I get that right? From where I’m looking, it seems they are indeed saying that.
Can you guys verify my view? This is hard to understand. I can’t think of any policy areas where NZ First will stop National doing most of what they want.
It really comes down to the fact that National have yet again been caught flat-footed. They were similarly caught when Jacinda Ardern jacked in her job when she ‘apparently’ ran out of gas. Now they’ve been caught again, with a scenario that they clearly never even contemplated.
There has never been a second election in nine MMP elections. Each and every time a government has been able to be formed. This is desperate scaremongering from the National Party.
They have been running out the lines about how we can’t afford a delay for coalition negotiations. They obviously sent a memo out, because some of my Nat friends were running these lines to my face and here on this site a couple of days before it started to run in media.
They forget that’s how MMP is intended to work, they also forget constitutional facts like the delay in having writs returned and special votes counted. It is arrogant and presumptuous and it just reeks of the National Party believing they have the right to govern.
You can destroy that narrative in a New York minute by just asking them how many sitting days they are planning on before Christmas. The answer will be stuff all, and then you can hammer the nail home by asking them if things are so imperative will they work through the Christmas/New Year parliamentary hiatus that doesn’t really end until February.
But, in the past few days we have seen the fear ramp up too. The Nats and ACT have rolled out person after person, including John Key and now Bryce McKenzie from Groundswell.
Join the dots: Groundswell–The Campaign Company–Jordan Williams–Taxpayers’ Union–ACT Party. Groundswell is just another shill for the ACT Party. The ACT Party are trying to stop the bleeding of their votes.
If National can’t or won’t do a deal with NZ First and force a new election, it will be National and ACT that get punished in the polls.
This whole debacle just smacks of desperation from National and indeed ACT. This behaviour is ultimately anti-democratic and designed to subvert people’s democratic rights.
And desperation is a stinky cologne that will only drive more votes to NZ First…and empower Winston Peters to drive a very hard bargain.
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