By Elishya Perera
AUCKLAND (CWBN)_ Voting began at 9 a.m. New Zealand time in the island nation’s General Election that pits charismatic Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labor Party against the challenge of the main opposition National Party led by Judith Collins, in a battle for the 120-seat Parliament. Polls close at 7 p.m.
An impressive 50.7% of New Zealand’s 3.44 million registered voters have already cast their ballots in advance voting between October 3 and October 15.
The Kiwi nation saw a big rise in advance votes this year, with more than 1.7 million advance votes being cast. According to the Electoral Commission, results of the advance votes will start rolling in soon after 7.00 p.m. today, once the polls close for Election Day voting. The Electoral Commission is aiming to have 50% of results available by 10pm and 95% of results available by 11.30 p.m. The final official results for the general election and referendums will only be issued on 6th November.
According to the latest Colmar Brunton poll, 46 percent of voters showed support for Labour and 31 percent support for National. However, Collins says that 15 percent of voters were undecided, and that could shift the election today towards a National victory.
Ardern’s Labour Party had only 46 seats, versus National’s 56 seats, at the last election in 2017, but formed a minority coalition government with the support of the New Zealand First Party and the Green Party. Some observers predict that Ardern may lead Labour to become the first majority governing party in New Zealand with over 60 seats since the current electoral system was introduced in 1996, as all previous government having been coalition governments where the main party had less than 60 seats.
National polls opened on election day at one of the calmest elections amidst a global pandemic. The emergence of a second wave of the virus in August resulted in the election being postponed, and throughout the weeks Arden’s Labour Party and the National party led by Collins carried out their election campaigns in such a calm demeanor, in stark contrast to the nasty, distasteful politics elsewhere in the world.
Arden is considered to be New Zealand’s most popular Prime Minister in a century, and is very much admired by the international community. She led the country through a terrorist attack in March 2019, a volcanic eruption in December, and stamped out of a global pandemic with one of the strictest nationwide lockdowns in the world.
Even though the Labour Party actually fell behind the opposition National Party in February, amidst criticism that Arden had failed to deliver certain key policies during her first term, however, the second wave of the virus changed the equation, as she once again delivered a master class in crisis management. “When you see the country having a rugby match where 30,000 people are gathering in a stadium – it’s seen as evidence of the government’s success,” Political analyst Geoffrey Miller said. “People look around at freedoms such as meeting friends for coffee and not having to wear a mask. People are feeling grateful to be cut off from the rest of the world”.
Meanwhile, Collins’s uphill battle hasn’t stopped the tough veteran politician from putting up a fight. Collins, who took over the party when polls showed very poor support for National, claims that she is more competent to tackle the post-pandemic financial challenges. While Collins is known for her tough policies and sharp quips, Ardern is feted globally for her politics of kindness. Last week, speaking dismissively of the prime minister’s offer of what Collins called “love and a hug” to her constituents, Collins says that she would provide “hope and a job”.
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