New Zealand’s ruling National Party launched its election campaign yesterday engulfed in a furore over underhand tactics, less than four weeks before the country goes to the polls.
A newly published book, based on e-mails hacked from the computer of a right-wing blogger, alleges the center-right government of New Zealand Prime Minister John Key and the blogger co-operated in a sustained “dirty tricks” campaign.
Opinion polls show the book has had a negative impact on the government, but does not seem to be enough, yet, to tarnish Key’s chances of winning a third term in office.
Photo: AFP
Key’s government has enjoyed strong public support, buoyed this year by delivering the country’s first budget surplus in six years.
While the National Party currently governs with the support of a handful of minor parties, some polls suggest it could govern in its own right after this election, a situation unprecedented since New Zealand adopted a German-style mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system in 1996.
However, in his campaign opening speech, Key urged his party faithful not to be complacent, arguing nothing could be taken for granted with several minor opposition parties working to collectively claim more than 50 percent of the vote.
“Despite being low in the polls, it’s still possible for Labour to cobble together a government with the Greens, [Kim] Dotcom and others, because that’s how the maths might work,” he said.
“So everyone who wants National to lead the next government has to get out there on September 20 and party vote National. They should have total confidence in doing that,” he added in a veiled reference to the controversial book, Dirty Politics.
Key has previously dismissed allegations made in the book written by Nicky Hager that one of his former staffers ran a “dirty tricks” campaign from his office which involved feeding information to right-wing blogger Cameron Slater and accessing a Labour Party database. He described Hager as a “left-wing conspiracy theorist.”
Key, 53, has adopted a mostly moderate center-right agenda since he took office in 2008, preferring to ditch controversial policies such as allowing mining in national parks rather than risk spooking the electorate. The former banker also won credit for steering the nation through the global financial crisis and a devastating earthquake in Christchurch in 2011.
Yet Key’s greatest asset is his personal popularity, with his support as preferred prime minister at about 45 percent in recent polls, a figure which has rarely dipped below 40 percent since he took office in 2008.
In the Dominion Post last week 61 percent of respondents rated him the leader they would prefer to have a beer with, compared to 27 percent for Labour leader David Cunliffe.
National have centered their re-election strategy around Key’s image, promoting “Team Key”, using a presidential-style campaign focused squarely on his leadership.
His main rival Cunliffe, a former diplomat and business consultant, appears to have failed to connect with voters since becoming Labour leader in September last year. Cunliffe’s party support is around 25 to 30 percent in the most recent polls, while his personal popularity languishes at about 10 percent.
Yet such is the unpredictability of MMP that Cunliffe could find himself a shock victor if he forms an alliance with the Greens, then gains enough support from other minor parties to cobble together a center-left coalition.
The Internet-Mana party, backed by Megaupload founder Dotcom, looms as a wild card, while populist former New Zealand deputy prime minister Winston Peters’ New Zealand First could find itself in the role of kingmaker, potentially leading to weeks of horsetrading and negotiations over who will form the government.
Some say that the third time’s a charm. Not so for SpaceX, whose unmanned rocket on Wednesday exploded on the ground after carrying out what had seemed to be a successful flight and landing — fresh on the heels of two fiery crashes. It was yet another flub involving a prototype of the Starship rocket, which SpaceX hopes one day to send to Mars. “A beautiful soft landing,” a SpaceX commentator said on a live broadcast of the test flight, although flames were coming out at the bottom and crews were trying to put them out. The rocket exploded a few minutes later,
LEGAL ORDEAL: The heavy caseload involving 47 defendants and the vagaries of a Beijing-imposed security law made it difficult for the court to rule on bail requests Dozens of Hong Kong democracy advocates charged with subversion yesterday returned to court to complete a marathon bail hearing that was adjourned overnight when four defendants were rushed to hospital after hours of legal wrangling. Police on Sunday arrested 47 of the territory’s best-known dissidents for “conspiracy to commit subversion” in the broadest use yet of a sweeping National Security Law that Beijing imposed on the territory last year. The defendants represent a broad cross-section of Hong Kong’s opposition, from veteran former pro-democracy lawmakers to academics, lawyers, social workers and youth advocates. Hundreds of supporters gathered outside a courthouse on Monday for the
The plane laden with vaccines had just rolled to a stop at Santiago’s airport in late January and Chilean President Sebastian Pinera was beaming. “Today is a day of joy, emotion and hope,” he said. The source of that hope: China — a country that Chile and dozens of other nations are depending on to help rescue them from the COVID-19 pandemic. China’s vaccine diplomacy campaign has been a surprising success: It has pledged about 500 million doses of its vaccine to more than 45 countries, according to a country-by-country tally by The Associated Press (AP). With just four of China’s many
Sarong-like cloths strung out on lines might seem innocuous, but long-held superstitions around women’s clothes appear to have stopped security forces in their tracks as they move to quell an uprising against a coup by the junta in Myanmar. The country has been in an uproar since the military ousted the civilian government and seized power on Feb. 1, triggering mass protests that the junta has sought to quash with increasingly lethal force. They have used tear gas, stun grenades, rubber bullets and sometimes live rounds against protesters, who are responding with imaginative tactics of their own. The latest involves hanging women’s undergarments
RSS