NZ Elections
November 25th 2011 02:05
Tomorrow we vote for the people we want to go into Parliament, here in New Zealand. Or rather, we try and vote them in.
It's been a fairly messy few weeks, with crazy behaviour amongst some of the candidates, including the current Prime Minister, John Key, who's gone from being a dead cert to being someone who is now holding on for dear life. He's promised to do some things that have really got under the skin of many New Zealanders, and they've lost confidence in him.
Anyway, in yesterday's Otago Daily Times, there were a number of letters relating to the elections. Here are a couple of ones that appealed to me.
The fact voters can successfully remove a perceived incompetent MP from his or her electoral seat only to see said incompetent MP reappear on the party list is surely sufficient reason to consign MMP to the electoral skip. [Lou McConnell]
....I asked Dr Nick Smith why the citizens of this country were not consulted on teh Kyoto Protocol legislation. Please note his reply: "When you elect a party to govern, they do so as they think fit and if you are not satisfied, you can change the government on the next election." [R M Blackstock]
And my favourite:
"I have sent Prime Minister John Key a box of teabags, and it was taped." [Brian Andrews]
A couple of explanations: MMP is a system in which a number of prospective MPs can get into Parliament without actually being elected by the people; they go on a list, and depending on how many seats the particular Party is entitled to, those at the top of the list (usually) also get in.
The teabags reference is related to a noisy piece of nonsense that went on when John Key, the current Prime Minister, and leader of the National Party, met with John Banks, the ACT candidate for Epsom, and supposedly discussed an agreement that Banks would get in - even though the National Party candidate was doing vastly better in the polls. The conversation was 'inadvertently' recorded, which angered the PM to such a degree that he brought the police in, claiming all sorts of media misbehaviour. Then, of course, everyone wanted to know what was on the tape: obviously something he didn't want others to hear.
It's been a fairly messy few weeks, with crazy behaviour amongst some of the candidates, including the current Prime Minister, John Key, who's gone from being a dead cert to being someone who is now holding on for dear life. He's promised to do some things that have really got under the skin of many New Zealanders, and they've lost confidence in him.
Anyway, in yesterday's Otago Daily Times, there were a number of letters relating to the elections. Here are a couple of ones that appealed to me.
The fact voters can successfully remove a perceived incompetent MP from his or her electoral seat only to see said incompetent MP reappear on the party list is surely sufficient reason to consign MMP to the electoral skip. [Lou McConnell]
....I asked Dr Nick Smith why the citizens of this country were not consulted on teh Kyoto Protocol legislation. Please note his reply: "When you elect a party to govern, they do so as they think fit and if you are not satisfied, you can change the government on the next election." [R M Blackstock]
And my favourite:
"I have sent Prime Minister John Key a box of teabags, and it was taped." [Brian Andrews]
A couple of explanations: MMP is a system in which a number of prospective MPs can get into Parliament without actually being elected by the people; they go on a list, and depending on how many seats the particular Party is entitled to, those at the top of the list (usually) also get in.
The teabags reference is related to a noisy piece of nonsense that went on when John Key, the current Prime Minister, and leader of the National Party, met with John Banks, the ACT candidate for Epsom, and supposedly discussed an agreement that Banks would get in - even though the National Party candidate was doing vastly better in the polls. The conversation was 'inadvertently' recorded, which angered the PM to such a degree that he brought the police in, claiming all sorts of media misbehaviour. Then, of course, everyone wanted to know what was on the tape: obviously something he didn't want others to hear.
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