COMMENTARY: By Sean Ackland
I’ll be a tap dancing hippopotamus before I let a handful of billionaires and their political beneficiaries rob us of the satisfaction of celebrating these key victories
Although the prospect of another three years of this government is enough to make anyone on the left contemplate taking up residence beneath a large rock, there is a great deal of encouragement to be found in these results.
Because putting aside the billionaire-funded campaign to exploit our electoral system and conjure up parliamentary seats that the right couldn’t win through the party vote.
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And putting aside this government’s blatant voter suppression tactics, resulting in the lowest voter turnout we’ve ever seen.
There is still a lot to celebrate.
Voice of the voiceless
For starters, national treasure and voice of the voiceless, Tānia Waikato, is going to be a Green MP.
A woman who has spent years making herself a nuisance to people in positions of power is now going to have the opportunity to make herself a nuisance to them from inside Parliament.
Then there’s Craig Renney, a generational political talent who has managed to win an electorate seat. And while his victory comes at the expense of Julie Anne Genter, who has been an outstanding representative, the good news is that Julie Anne will return on the Green Party list.
Allowing the left to have its cake and eat it too.
Then there’s Tamatha Paul.
Not content with spending the past three years demonstrating why she is one of the most formidable young politicians in the country, she has gone and won her electorate in a landslide.
All without mentioning the fact that the Greens recorded their strongest election result in history.
Fate of two largest parties
But perhaps the most satisfying result of all is what happened to the two largest political parties.
Because after three years of Christopher Luxon telling New Zealanders that his government was getting the country back on track, more voters gave their party vote to Chris Hipkins and Labour than to Luxon and National.
Meaning that despite the government’s decision to scrap same-day voter enrolment.
Despite billionaire-funded campaigns attempting to engineer an overhang in Parliament.
Despite voter turnout falling to around 74 percent.
Despite every advantage enjoyed by an incumbent government with some of the wealthiest people in the country helping to keep it in power.
Labour are still on track to beat National in the party vote.
Labour back from 2023 electoral wreckage
Chris Hipkins has managed to drag Labour back from the electoral wreckage of 2023.
While Christopher Luxon has managed to take a party that won a commanding victory three years ago and lead it into second place.
And now, in one of the great absurdities of our electoral system, the man whose party received the most votes may find himself sitting in opposition, while the man whose party lost the most support gets another three years in the Prime Minister’s office.
And even then, Luxon may have to spend those three years negotiating with three coalition partners whose political agendas have about as much in common as a vegetarian, a butcher and a hungry wolf.
So forgive me if I don’t regard this election as an unqualified triumph for the right.
The Greens have made history.
Labour has staged an enormous recovery.
Some of the most talented politicians in the country have secured their places in Parliament.
PM’s office and electorate confidence different things
And Christopher Luxon has received a rather emphatic reminder that occupying the Prime Minister’s office and enjoying the confidence of the electorate are two very different things.
So yes, be disappointed. Be angry about the voter suppression. Be furious about the billionaires attempting to purchase themselves a more favourable Parliament.
But don’t mistake the prospect of another right-wing government for an endorsement of everything that government has done.
And don’t allow the disappointment of what we haven’t achieved to extinguish the satisfaction of what we have.
We have gained ground. We have gained representation. And we have gained momentum.
There is still plenty worth fighting for, and there are now more formidable people in Parliament to fight for it.
Do not despair.
- The final result of the NZ general election is due on November 27 after about 399,000 special votes have been counted. Provisional preliminary results here.
Sean Ackland is a New Zealand author, content creator and political commentator based in Auckland. This commentary is republished from a social media post with the author’s permission.
