It is quite interesting how the ACT, Maori and Green parties are holding their support levels five months after the general election.
If this trend continues it could be a real sign that MMP is maturing and we are settling down to a pretty permanent five-party political system.
The Roy Morgan poll released today has ACT at 4 percent support (fractionally above its election result), the Maori Party at 4 percent (near double its election result) and the Greens on 9 percent (up from 6.7).
ProgBlog is not a particular fan of some of the policies of UnitedFuture or NZ First.
But the historical record is that NZ First's then five MPs played a critical role in enabling the establishment of the NZ Superannuation Fund in the 1999-2002 Parliament. In the 1996-1999 Parliament, NZ First forced the abolition of the anti-savings Super Surtax and it forced New Zealanders to confront the issue of our nation's weak personal savings culture (a prelude to KiwiSaver a decade later).
And UnitedFuture's then eight MPs saved MMP in the 2002-2005 Parliament
by offering critical confidence and supply to the Labour-Progressive coalition which was eight seats short of a majority.
Because of the way that "the daily news cycle" operates, with the emphasis on entertainment and therefore "conflict," there is no question that 99 per cent of voters in 1999 and in 2002 and in 2005 had no inkling of the positive roles played by either NZ First or UnitedFuture in promoting political stability and progressive policies. The Progressives suffered the same fate.
But it could be that in 2009, after five MMP elections, enough of the public have now cottoned on to the way proportional electoral systems work. If so, that suggests ACT, the Maori Party and the Greens can hope not to be penalised for being responsible positive governing parties.
Prime Minister John Key's MMP masterstroke of securing a policy cooperation deal with the Greens this week, meanwhile, helps explain why his party continues to sit at around 50 per cent support in the polls.
1 comments:
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