Well, New Zealanders have spoken. Not entirely in the way I wanted; I was hoping for a Labour-Green coalition, obviously, but, on the upside, the Greens have two more MPs in the House (even though the polls said they would get six more)! That is, indeed, a victory for the Greens.
With a National government coming up, the interesting part will be to see whom they'll make a coalition with. With Roger Douglas back in parliament, I'm not sure that an alliance with Act will make a very centrist government, but the Maori Party looks pretty strong too; I would be hoping for National to make an offer to them, instead of (or at least in addition to) Act. We'll see.
Winston Peters has lost his seat in parliament, after 30 years. Perhaps not surprising after all the recent dramas surrounding him, but still a shock.
More of a shock, though, is that Helen Clark has announced her resignation as the leader of the Labour Party. Very courageous, I think, and it definitely marks the end of an era. I hope the next leader of Labour will rebuild Labour to a new glory in three years (or whenever)!
Well, here's to a more centrist next three years in New Zealand! With John Key in the lead, I have some confidence this is well within reach.
1 comment:
Awww, I'm sorry...that bites! No happy dances over that one tonight. But I do hope that it turns out to be a very centrist government, and hey, at least National is not as extreme as the Republican party in the US!
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