That's about as big an admission that we are going to get that on present polling National will get no list MPs at all. National is polling below 30 percent, which means the 800,000 or so Kiwis who party vote National are not delivering one extra MP. They may as well not tick the party vote box.
If just 20 percent of them party-voted NZ First or ACT, they would deliver six or seven extra MPs. Their votes would count.
And making your vote count is vital under MMP. We have had 10 MMP elections. Eight of them have had the government decided by five or fewer MPs. That's why voting smart matters.
At the last election, the voters who gave their electorate vote to ACT or NZ First delivered no extra MPs for either party. Had they voted for the National candidate, National would have won an extra nine electorate seats. Had National been in overhang those votes would have meant nine extra MPs for the centre right.
If you are a centre right voter and you are giving your electorate vote to any party other than National, you are not helping. Likewise, if you are giving your party vote to anyone but NZ First or ACT, you are not helping.
For the centre right to win, vote National in every electorate, including Epsom and Tamaki. And Party Vote either NZ First or ACT in every electorate. It isn’t hard. Yes, there will be extra MPs in Parliament -- but there will be a Centre Right Government. And it should be a better one than the one we have had these past three years. Extra MPs is a small price to pay compared to having the Green Party and Te Parti Maori calling the shots.
The National Party and their allies say calling for split or strategic voting is anti-democratic. I say, how can voting ever be anti-democratic especially when you are using both votes to best effect? The good people of Epsom have done that for seven elections in a row. The logic now is for them to electorate vote National. That's the way they continue to use their votes to best effect.
You get two votes. Use them. Split them. And split them the right way.
Rodney Hide is former ACT Party leader, and Minister in the National-ACT Government from 2008 to 2011. This article was first published HERE
And making your vote count is vital under MMP. We have had 10 MMP elections. Eight of them have had the government decided by five or fewer MPs. That's why voting smart matters.
At the last election, the voters who gave their electorate vote to ACT or NZ First delivered no extra MPs for either party. Had they voted for the National candidate, National would have won an extra nine electorate seats. Had National been in overhang those votes would have meant nine extra MPs for the centre right.
If you are a centre right voter and you are giving your electorate vote to any party other than National, you are not helping. Likewise, if you are giving your party vote to anyone but NZ First or ACT, you are not helping.
For the centre right to win, vote National in every electorate, including Epsom and Tamaki. And Party Vote either NZ First or ACT in every electorate. It isn’t hard. Yes, there will be extra MPs in Parliament -- but there will be a Centre Right Government. And it should be a better one than the one we have had these past three years. Extra MPs is a small price to pay compared to having the Green Party and Te Parti Maori calling the shots.
The National Party and their allies say calling for split or strategic voting is anti-democratic. I say, how can voting ever be anti-democratic especially when you are using both votes to best effect? The good people of Epsom have done that for seven elections in a row. The logic now is for them to electorate vote National. That's the way they continue to use their votes to best effect.
You get two votes. Use them. Split them. And split them the right way.
Rodney Hide is former ACT Party leader, and Minister in the National-ACT Government from 2008 to 2011. This article was first published HERE
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