New Zealand has a General Election SATURDAY

I actually gave up following NZ politics years ago. I know more about USA

We have a DAFT system 2 main parties, but a system that gives power to minor parties

All I hope is that NATIONAL (conservative) party remain the leader of a ruling coalition, rather than LABOUR (liberal/socialist)

LABOUR have got even loonier than previous with a new WOMAN leader who is threatening VERY socialist policies.... to make matters worse she has a horrible whiny voice and a face like a HORSE!!!

Jacinda Ardern





Wish Me luck!!



ETA
WOW.. I just had a phone call from John Key (Former PM of NZ)
Asking me to vote National Party, and for local MP Chris Penk

Well it was his voice... but it was a robo-call

If it had been a real live person.. I would have shouted I ALREADY DID THAT LAST WEEK!!!

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

GOOD LUCK today, New Zealand!

GOOD LUCK to the country of New Zealand, today!

Thanks guys

SURELY... the NZ people are not daft enough to vote in A socialist horse-faced woman as leader?

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Current NZ 51st Parliament
(Note: Because of vote math we ended up with 1 "overhang seat" 121 seats total, rather than 120)

Wikepedia NZ Parliament
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/51st_New_ ... Parliament

Wikepedia 2014 Election
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zeala ... tion,_2014

NZ system is: Mixed Member Proportional (MMP)
2014 Election resulted in 71 MPs from single-member electorates and 49 from party lists.

We currently have a National Government, supported by The Maori Party and ACT (supposedly right wing/Libertarian party) and Peter Dunne (a dork)

Government - 64 seats
National 60 seats
Maori 2 seats
ACT 1 seat
United Future (Peter Dunne) 1 seat

Opposition - 57 seats
Labour 32 seats
Green 14 seats
NZ First 11 seats









We have 64 Geographical Electorates (regions) plus 7 "Maori Electorates" (Heaven KNOWS why????)
Total electorate Seats 71
Plus Party seats 49

Total Seats in Parliament 120 (Math can cause "overhang" as happened last time, resulting in 121)

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Stuff poll of polls: Election result too close to call
ANDY FYERS
Last updated 12:55, September 22 2017

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politi ... se-to-call

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Polls, polls, polls.....

National 44%
Labour 38%
Greens 8%
NZ First 6%

Percentages in themselves are NOT as important as how they translate into SEATS!!

IF polls numbers are exactly right, seats in the house would look like this:
National 54
Labour 46
Greens 10
NZ First 7
Maori Party 1
ACT 1.

With 61 seats needed for a majority in a 120-seat Parliament, National would be five seats short of governing with current support partners ACT and the Maori Party.

Winston Peters and NZ First will decide the make-up of the next Government

If Winston Peters is the answer... then it's a stupid question.

He has been an actor in NZ politics for decades... originally a young NATIONAL MP ... his name mentioned as future leader and PM of NZ. However.... he formed one of the splinter small parties that now plague the NZ system. Given more power than they deserve, when the country opted to TRY a "proportional system" ensuring small parties got a few seats in parliament. Seemed like an idea worth trying (to the masses) but IMO it is a disaster. Many came to realise that... but once in place it has proven impossible to remove, or even change to a BETTER proportional system.
Anyway.. Winston Peters has been embroiled in several controversies... I would not trust him as far as I could chuck him. His "New Zealand First" part is aptly referred to as the "Winston First Party"

However, having said all that I would STILL favor a coalition of (Winston and National) over (Labour and "The Greens")

But who knows with Winston?... he might go with Labour.. he is open to "sweeteners"... like a Cabinet position

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Did your ballot -- Party Vote/ Electorate Vote ... have pictures of fruit down both sides?

Asking for a friend.

Stuffed if I know....

I found National logo in two places and ticked. Then I went to buy Red Bull on special.

What are these "pictures of fruit" you speak of?


ETA

Ah... I see yer problem

You have been looking at "Sample" Image

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I saw the ballot here at the bottom: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-09-22/n ... de/8967298

I don't see a National Party. Which piece of fruit is it?
(I'm not making light of the election, just curious.)

Yeah... feel FREE to make light of the NZ election... it is a friggin' joke

I added to my post above

I think the NAMES are listed alphabetically.. to randomize any benefit of being at top of list... The party logos follow their guy's name.


I think it would have been better to have fruit options.... I VOTE BANANA

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I see some moron started #dogsatpollingstations
(Labour voter probably)

Cat owners fighting back with CATS who could not be bothered going to polling places

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

LOL! I saw that hashtag along with some photos of the dogs.

I like the cat one much better. Too funny!

7:00 PM POLLS CLOSED

Here we go... hours of tedious BS... then Result Known

As you were..... talking about "Special Votes"... that wont be fully counted for 6 weeks

Lets hope the result is NOT dependent on that nonsense.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

I just read a piece at The Guardian explaining how little the voters know about the election, UNTIL the polls close.

It said the winner is announced 14 days after the election. I am guessing this is like, officially announced.

But you will know before then, right?

I HOPE we know tonight... depends on how things work out


One Place to Follow LIVE Results

http://www.newshub.co.nz/home/election/ ... sults.html


Government Results
http://www.electionresults.govt.nz/

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

Thanks.

Look at the graph here, with 0.5% reporting.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/ ... glish-live

I do NOT rate the Guardian as a reliable source.... for anything

And we are way past 0.5% counted

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light

There is no denying that there has been a huge swing to Labour. They only got around 25% of the vote in 2014 and look like getting 37% (maybe) this election

This is straight out due to low information voters.. who see BIG GOVERNMENT and a Nanny State as the answer. Lots of people LIKE the horrible horse-faced socialist woman... The swing to Labour is largely down to her personal following (fans) .... and they deserve her.

The HOPE is that Labour's gains are at the expense of other Daft parties (like Green - % halved)... and so Net Daft is not too greatly increased.

_________________
Do not go gentle into that good night.
___________ Rage, rage against the dying of the light