Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Delays New Zeland Election until October 17

today08/17/2020 10

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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Delays New Zeland Election until October 17

Via NZHerald.com:

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has decided to delay the election until October 17.

Announcing the decision this morning, Ardern said the re-emergence of Covid-19 in the community was a cause for concern during the election period.

And while the Electoral Commission said voting could safely happen under alert level 2, Ardern said she also had to factor in participation of voters, fairness and certainty.

Under normal circumstances, the election date rests solely on the Prime Minister but Ardern said moving the election was a significant decision so she consulted other political leaders.

She considered complete consensus was unlikely but said all parties agreed on certainty.

The Green Party, Act and New Zealand First have all welcomed the delay while National leader Judith Collins, who called for a delay, said she “acknowledges the new date”.

Parliament will reconvene tomorrow. The dissolution of Parliament will now be Sunday September 6. The Governor-General has been advised of the new date.

Ardern said she was advised October 17 meant the Electoral Commission would be able to draw on some of the work they’d already done and was preferable for voter turnout.

And while having early voting start during the school holidays meant some people would be moving around the country, impacting the commission’s workforce it would also mean there would be some additional voting facilities available, like schools.

She said there were “many, many knock-on effects” to delaying the election, including to electoral workers and candidates who’d taken leave without pay to campaign, but she believed New Zealanders deserved certainty.

Ardern said Covid was the “world’s new normal” and gave the assurance she wouldn’t change the election date again.

“Covid will be with us for some time to come. Continuously pushing out an election does not lessen the risk of disruption and this is why the Electoral Commission has planned for the possibility of holding an election where the country is at level 2, and with some parts at level 3.

A Herald-Kantar poll this morning revealed 60 per cent of New Zealanders did not think the election should still be held on September 19 – but opinions differed greatly between Auckland and the rest of New Zealand.

Ardern said she accepted a sense of anxiety, including from political parties, about the disruption to the start of the campaign period.

Ardern said she never considered a vote of no confidence was a threat because that would have triggered an election.

She said even if she didn’t pick up the phone and talk to anyone, October 17 was her preference.

It will be up to individual political parties about whether they suspend their campaigns but Labour wouldn’t re-launch theirs, she said.

Ardern is getting advice from Crown Law on spending caps for campaigning.

National, Act and NZ First had all called on Ardern to delay the election, saying the September date made it difficult for political parties to campaign, and that voters would be wary of voting.

Collins, who wanted the election moved to next year, tweeted this morning that Ardern had announced the new date was October 17.

 

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Written by: LoneRhody

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