Credit:Flag courtesy of ITA’s Flags of All Countries used with permission.

Election Date: November 15, 2008

At stake: House of Representatives

Background

British law was established in New Zealand under the Treaty of Waitangi in 1840, which also pledged to protect the rights of the aboriginal Maori population. To this day, the country is home to two dominant cultural groups: the descendants of European settlers and the Maori.

In 1893, New Zealand became the first country in the world to allow women to vote. The British colony committed thousands of soldiers during World War I and World War II, before becoming fully independent in 1947.

Two parties—Labour and National—have been the main political organizations in New Zealand for the past 70 years. Labour has provided nine prime ministers since 1935, with National accounting for the remaining six.

Until 1996, New Zealand relied on the first-past-the-post approach for parliamentary elections, where candidates earned a seat in the House of Representatives by getting more votes than any rival in a specific constituency. The party with more elected members—regardless of total vote count or percentage—then formed the government.

New Zealand voters backed the mixed-member proportional voting system in a 1993 binding referendum. The rationale allocates 65 seats in the House of Representatives as first-past-the-post, and 55 seats through proportional representation party lists. Since 2002, seven seats must be filled by Maori representatives.

The 1996 election resulted in a victory for the National party, commanded by Jim Bolger. The Nationals formed a loose coalition administration with the conservative New Zealand First party of Winston Peters. Bolger’s tenure would be short, as social welfare minister Jenny Shipley launched a successful leadership challenge, taking over as National’s leader and becoming the first female prime minister in December 1997.

In the 1999 election, Helen Clark led the Labour party to victory. Bill English would take over from Shipley as opposition leader in October 2001.

Clark earned a second term as prime minister in the 2002 election, when Labour elected 52 lawmakers to the 120-seat House of Representatives, and formed a government with the support of Jim Anderton’s Progressive Coalition. National recorded its worst result in seven decades, with just 20.9 per cent of the vote.

Under Clark, New Zealand dealt with controversial topics such as prostitution and civil unions. The Labour government refused to support the United States-led coalition effort in Iraq. Bilateral relations between the U.S. and New Zealand were strained after the start of the war on terrorism. In 2003, U.S. commerce undersecretary Grant Aldones chided the Clark administration for its anti-nuclear stance, claiming American warships must be allowed to fight terrorism all over the world. Disarmament minister Marian Hobbs said the current government had no plans to amend the 1987 law that establishes New Zealand as a nuclear-free area.

In 2003, a Court of Appeal decision allowed the Maori Land Court the possibility of establishing a customary title to New Zealand’s foreshore and seabed. In April 2004, Clark introduced legislation that vests ownership of the country’s foreshore and seabed to the Crown. The ensuing discussions on aboriginal rights led to cabinet minister Tariana Turia’s resignation. She was later re-elected to the House of Representatives as a candidate for the newly created Maori Party.

Don Brash became the National party leader in October 2003, defeating English in a leadership challenge. Brash implemented his party’s strategy in two key speeches. In January 2004, Brash advocated for a "country with many peoples, not simply a society of Pakeha and Maori where the minority has a birthright to the upper hand, as the Labour government seems to believe." A year later, Brash criticized the sitting administration’s welfare policies, and proposed cancelling benefits for single mothers who have more children, establishing tests for unemployed adults and tabling new guidelines for disability and sickness benefits.

Along with Australia, New Zealand is actively involved in Pacific affairs. The country committed troops to East Timor in 1999, and participated in the effort to restore order in the Solomon Islands in 2003.

The 55-year-old Clark secured another term in office in the 2005 legislative election. Final results gave Labour 40.74 per cent of the vote, with National a close second with 39.63 per cent.

United Future and New Zealand First agreed to support the administration in confidence and supply votes for three years.

In November 2006, Brash announced his resignation and was substituted by finance spokesman John Key.

In his first major speech on Jan. 30, 2007, Key revealed his plans to reform the country’s welfare system, declaring, "We have to ensure that Kiwis, even those with relatively low skills, are always better off working than being on a benefit. (...) We have to insist that healthy people receiving assistance from the State have obligations, whether that be looking for work, acquiring new skills for work, or working in their community." The National leader has branded New Zealand’s welfare system as too generous, but has rejected allegations that he intends to cut it completely.

Since taking over as the conservative National party’s leader, Key has insisted in introducing tax cuts and revitalizing New Zealand’s economy. Throughout 2007, voting intention polls showed that National had gained popularity as confidence in the Labour government slowly eroded.

A poll by Roy Morgan International in December 2007 put National first place with 48 per cent of public support, followed by Labour with 35 per cent.

2008 House of Representatives Election

The government must call for a legislative election before Nov. 15. Campaigning started in January.

Incumbent prime minister and Labour party leader Helen Clark is seeking a fourth term in office. John Key is the leader of the opposition National party, which has conservative views.

In April, Clark signed a bilateral free trade agreement between New Zealand and China. Foreign minister Winston Peters—who is also leader of the New Zealand First party, a junior partner in the coalition government—publicly opposed the agreement. According to him, "There is not enough in [the free trade deal] for New Zealand."

Throughout 2008, voting intention polls have consistently shown an advantage for National over Labour. In February, a survey by AC Nielsen released by the Fairfax Newspapers showed National leading with 55 per cent, followed by Labour with 32 per cent.

Clark commented on the findings, saying, "I think those results are a bit extreme, but clearly we have work to do. (...) We have to keep governing, we have to work on being a government of substance, a government of vision, a government which has got the big ideas. (...) In the end it may well be a race between the hare and the tortoise, but of course the tortoise won the race."

A May poll by DigiPoll published in the New Zealand Herald put National ahead with 51.5 per cent, and Labour behind with 36.2 per cent.

On May 20, trade and defence minister Phil Goff seemed to concede that Labour could lose this year’s legislative election, saying, "I am confident Labour is in with a very good chance to win. There is always the prospect of any party losing an election; of course that is what an election is about."

Also in May, finance minister Michael Cullen unveiled the government’s new budget, which included close to $8.2 billion U.S. in tax cuts over the next four years. On Jun. 2, Key criticized the spending plan, saying, "After nine years of waiting for a tax cut, which finally equates to a block of cheese, I think New Zealanders are rightly frustrated—it’s too little, too late, and frankly, pretty cynical coming in an election year after nine years of waiting."

On Jun. 4, Key said his party would consider an alliance with the Greens following this year’s legislative ballot, declaring, "Never say never. We’ve got a balanced agenda. (...) The environment is important, New Zealanders value it and it’s important for our international reputation, but we also need a stronger economy to deliver better living standards. If they can live with a balanced agenda, then sure we can have discussions with them. But they tend to come from a slightly different perspective from us."

For the past two years, New Zealand has been affected by droughts that have strained the country’s water and energy supplies. The government has called for individuals to change their habits to help avoid major rationings. On Jun. 10, Clark echoed such calls, saying, “I think the advice will be that, while it’s not an emergency, it is time for people to be turning off lights in rooms they are not using, certainly not leaving the computer on all night or the heated towel rail on for 24 hours a day.”

On Jun. 25, the government signed a deal with representatives of the Maori peoples, granting them close to $303 million U.S. in land and cash as a way to settle old grievances. Finance and treaty negotiations minister Michael Cullen praised the deal saying, “With the transfer of the majority of the forests held by the Crown in the region to the seven iwi, or tribes, represented in the collective, a nearly half-billion [NZ dollars] asset base will finally be utilized in the interests of local Maori.”

Tumu Te Heu Heu, representative of the Ngati Tuwharetoa tribe, declared: “By signing this settlement today, we are also signalling our intention to be a positive and inextricable part of the New Zealand community.”

Also on Jun. 25, Peters unveiled the government’s Pacific Development Strategy, saying, “No one is saying this is going to be easy, nor that New Zealand has all the answers. (...) It also means preventing corruption, poor governance and conflict which erode development gains.” The plan will deliver $1.51 billion U.S. in aid over eight years to Pacific Island nations, including Papua New Guinea, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands.

On Jun. 26, official numbers revealed that New Zealand’s consumer confidence has dropped to its lowest level since 1991. Donna Purdue, senior economist at Westpac in Wellington, commented on the findings, saying, “There is plenty for consumers to be down about, and they will continue to look at ways to cut back on spending. (…) The Reserve Bank expected a deep retrenchment in spending, and the fall in confidence is consistent with that view.”

On Jul. 2, Key denied a newspaper report which asserted that National would privatize the Accident Compensation Corporation (ACC) if it forms the government, but admitted that the party does “have an intention of increasing competition and choice,” adding, “We won’t be expanding that or doing that unless we can deliver safer workplaces at a lower cost to New Zealand consumers.”

On Jul. 7, Clark revealed that she will contest the next election as Labour leader, saying that stepping down is “a question I’m not even prepared to contemplate.” The prime minister added: “I believe that in the home straight before the election itself the polls will begin to narrow.”

In July, published reports claimed that New Zealand First received multiple donations from the Vela family’s thoroughbred and fishing companies from 1999 to 2003, which were never declared. Peters called the allegations “without substance, without detail, without facts and (...) downright lies,” adding, “Don’t you guys [the media] go to any trouble because I’ll be bringing it with me.”

On Jul. 20, Maori Party candidate Derek Fox—who is campaigning to unseat current Maori affairs minister Parekura Horomia in this year’s election—called on voters to look past the allegations of domestic violence that were levelled against him recently, saying, “These things happened a long, long time ago. I would have thought that there’s an opportunity for the people in New Zealand, who talk about being fair and giving someone a fair go, that there might be some opportunity for that to occur.”

Also in July, Indonesian authorities said that three men convicted for their participation in the 2002 bombing of a night club in Bali would be executed “as soon as possible” after they declined to seek a presidential pardon. The three men have been on death row since their conviction in 2003. Three New Zealanders died in the attack.

On Jul. 21, Clark referred to the upcoming execution, saying, “The New Zealand government does not support the death penalty under any circumstances. Clearly these men are guilty of heinous crimes and those crimes, in any jurisdiction, would justify them (getting) very serious penalties available under law, but the New Zealand government will not and does not support the death penalty.”

Also on Jul. 21, Greens co-leader Russel Norman expressed dissatisfaction with the current government’s National Policy Statement for freshwater management, saying, “Objectives such as ‘Enabling well-being of people and communities’ and ‘Improving the quality of fresh water’, for example, are nonsense without specific dates and defined water quality standards. (...) This is more evidence that the safety of our water resources has been hijacked by vested interests with the ear of cabinet.”

On Jul. 23, Lockwood Smith—National’s immigration spokesman—called on his party to create an Immigration Ministry if it forms the next government, saying, “A new management culture is required, and I question whether that can be achieved while the immigration service is just a section of the Department of Labour.”

Smith also said National would work to attract migrants back into New Zealand, stating, “More than 80,000 New Zealanders headed overseas permanently in the last 12 months—the second highest ever. The loss to Australia was the highest on record. An estimated 800,000 Kiwis live abroad and it’s been reckoned that we lose 32 per cent of our tertiary-trained workforce.”

On Jul. 29, Key urged the government to deal with the New Zealand First donation controversy, adding, “We’ve spent two and a half weeks on this circus and we’re probably going to spend some more time. This is happening at a time when the economy is suffering some real issues, when people are concerned about things that really matter to them.”

On Aug. 14, while on a vacation in a remote location in New Zealand, Clark tried in vain to save her mountain guide’s life after he apparently suffered a heart attack. The experienced guide, Gottlieb Braun-Elwert, was a personal friend of the prime minister’s family and accompanied them on numerous expeditions for over a decade.

Dave Crow, a member of the New Zealand Mountain Guides Association, said that Clark, her husband and two cabinet ministers tried to revive Braun-Elwert for almost two hours, and declared: “They did an incredible job of trying to resuscitate him, they worked on him for over two hours, they’re a party of four or five and they did a huge job as a team of trying to bring him back around.”

On Aug. 19, Key met with Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd for the first time. National’s leader claimed he will maintain the current status of New Zealand-Australia economic relations if his party comes to power later this year, declaring, “I said to Mr. Rudd that we view the further development of the single economic market on a bi-partisan basis and if there was a change of government in New Zealand then he could expect us to continue that work.”

Also on Aug. 19, Key claimed that his party will gain the confidence of voters, declaring, “I intend to campaign on trust. I intend to be a prime minister that earns the trust of New Zealanders and I’m going to keep that trust.”

Political Players

Queen: Elizabeth II
Governor-General: Anand Satyanand
Prime minister: Helen Clark - Lab.

Legislative Branch: The House of Representatives will have 121 members, elected to three-year terms; 69 members elected in multi-seat constituencies; and 52 members elected under the mixed-member proportional voting system on party lists.

Results of Last Election:

House of Representatives - Sept. 17, 2005

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