It is election day.
Voting places are open from 9am to 7pm today. Results will start coming in soon after the polls close and election officials expect 50% of them to be counted by 10:30pm, and 90% by midnight.
It is important for you to vote. It may have been a relatively dull campaign dominated by lackluster personalities. True to form, most media accentuate the personality side of the campaigning and down play the policy positions.
But to be fair, almost all parties have a wide set of policies on offer and they would rather talk about those positions, even if TV, radio and other media push to induce 'gotcha' moments.
If you are a voter who would rather vote based on those policy positions, we have a policy comparison tool, an independent service we have offered since the 2005 general election. It is a straight comparison tool, organised by subject. It doesn't involve any compiler judgments, and only lists policy position components in the actual words of each party (and each policy is linked to its original full source). (Curated by Georgia Carr.)
We also have a useful page where you can compare the party philosophies. You can find that here.
Principled voting is out of fashion, given the pervasive nature of social media, and the rise of negative campaigning. Sadly those work, and many of us end up thinking democracy is a process of choosing the least worse. But it doesn't have to be like that. Any voter who takes the time to read party policies would be impressed with what was on offer, and the different styles of public policy approaches in the political marketplace.
The two edge parties, the Greens on the left, ACT on the right, both have coherent positions and articulate them well in their policy offerings. Labour and National will end up stealing policy from these parties while promoting their 'centerist' credentials. To be fair, National rarely has original ideas. Labour often does but usually only when they are out of power. So watching ACT or Green policy is inherently interesting.
This election, TOP is also in there with the most innovative policy offerings. They may not be everyone's cup of tea, but they are centerist, and deserve respect - and the attention of serious voters. Perhaps NZ First is the only serious party without policy that makes a lot of sense - just campaigning slogans. But NZ First, despite a barren policy platform, could end up as the tail that wags the dog later today (and over the next few weeks).
Our democracy deserves protection. And the only way that will happen is if most people participate in it, principally by voting. Checking out party policy positions would be a better action. Responding to a boring election campaign by just not voting opens the door to extremes. Your vote is important if we want to keep our liberal democracy.
We have an analysis of potential surprises that could be in store on election night. And we will be following that up this evening with result tracking, and the implications for a new government, starting at 7pm with Dan Brinskill, Eric Frykberg, and Gareth Vaughan.
And as an aside, here is an interesting factoid from Peta Alexander, extracted from his excellent newsletter to clients.
"15. Current parliamentary salaries:
- Members of Parliament $163,961
- Cabinet Ministers $296,007
- Leader of the Opposition $296,007
- Deputy Prime Minister $334,734
- Prime Minister $471,049
There has been no change in these salaries for six years." This pay is set by an independent body. Our politicians have rejected all recommended increases even over the period of much higher inflation. Meanwhile officials around them all did get increases, certainly below chief executive level. This is hardly evidence of an irresponsible set of parliamentarians.
We welcome your comments below. If you are not already registered, please register to comment
Remember we welcome robust, respectful and insightful debate. We don't welcome abusive or defamatory comments and will de-register those repeatedly making such comments. Our current comment policy is here.