New Zealand delays general election by a month amid Auckland Covid-19 outbreak

New Zealand delays general election by a month amid Auckland Covid-...

The prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, announces vote will move from 19 September to 17 October

Sun 16 Aug 2020 22.42 EDTFirst published on Sun 16 Aug 2020 19.06 EDT

Jacinda Ardern had faced growing calls from opposition parties for the election to be moved. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images

New Zealand is to delay its general election by a month due to the outbreak of Covid-19 in Auckland, the country’s prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, has said.

Calls had been growing from opposition parties for the election to be moved, with opposition leaders saying it wasn’t “just and fair” to hold an election while an outbreak was underway and level 3 restrictions were in place in the country’s largest city, prohibiting campaigning.

'Go hard, go early' – now New Zealand goes back to the drawing board

Ardern said after consulting with every political party in parliament, as well as the electoral commission, she had decided to move the general election from 19 September to 17 October.

She said her first suggestion of moving it by two weeks had been rejected by the Electoral Commission as not enough time to prepare logistics such as venues.

“The Electoral Commission, via the Ministry of Justice, has advised me that a safe and accessible election is achievable on this date,” Ardern said. “Moving the date by four weeks also gives all parties a fair shot to campaign and delivers New Zealanders certainty without unnecessarily long delays.”

Ardern said Covid-19 would be with the world “for some time to come” and repeatedly pushing the election date would not lessen the risk of disruption to voters and parties.

“This is why the Electoral Commission has planned for the possibility of holding an election where the country is at level 2, and with some parts at level 3. I will not change the election date again.”

New Zealand is in the midst of its first outbreak since eliminating the disease in June, with dozens of people infected and held in quarantine in Auckland, a city of 1.5 million.

On Monday nine news cases of Covid-19 were reported, bringing the total number of cases related to the south Auckland cluster to 58. Māori and Pasifika people have been disproportionately infected by the latest outbreak.

Five people were in hospital being treated for the disease, and the source of the outbreak remained a mystery, the ministry of health said.

“We still don’t have any particular clues as to the origin of the outbreak,” director-general of health Dr Ashley Bloomfield said.

“Our first focus is on the mapping the extent of it and managing the outbreak, once we have the complete picture we are much more likely to then go back and trace the origin of it.”

“We may find some clues as to where, but we may still not quite answer the question of how it was transmitted.”

Testing numbers remained at “unprecedented levels” he said.

Island nations have the edge in keeping Covid away – or most do

The leader of the National party, Judith Collins, said holding an election in September would disadvantage opposition parties, and she had pushed for the election to be moved to November or next year.

“We acknowledge the new date,” Collins says.

“It was always National’s view that to have a fair, democratic election we needed to deal with this second wave of Covid-19 so politicians from all parties had a reasonable chance to present their policies, and the public felt comfortable engaging with the campaign without putting their health at risk.”

The New Zealand First leader, Winston Peters, who is also deputy prime minister and foreign minister, welcomed the new date. “New Zealand First is pleased that common sense has prevailed. We were concerned that the Covid outbreak had the effect of limiting campaigns to an unacceptably short period,” Peters said in a statement.

“Voters are sovereign. Holding an election during a Covid outbreak has the risk of serious interference in our democracy. Voters would be expected to exercise their electoral rights with a dearth of information and that is unacceptable. With a delay parties can now prepare to begin campaigning again, confident that they have the time and resources to engage in a free and fair election.”

Parliament would reconvene on Monday and then dissolve on 6 September. Advance voting would open on 3 October.

As well as voting on a new government, two referendum questions will also be on the ballot papers: whether to legalise marijuana use and whether to legalise euthanasia.

America is at a crossroads ...

... and its direction in the coming months will define the country for a generation. These are perilous times. Over the last three years, much of what the Guardian holds dear has been threatened – democracy, civility, truth.

The country is at a crossroads. Science is in a battle with conjecture and instinct to determine policy in the middle of a pandemic. At the same time, the US is reckoning with centuries of racial injustice – as the White House stokes division along racial lines. At a time like this, an independent news organisation that fights for truth and holds power to account is not just optional. It is essential.

Like many news organizations, the Guardian has been significantly impacted by the pandemic. We rely to an ever greater extent on our readers, both for the moral force to continue doing journalism at a time like this and for the financial strength to facilitate that reporting.

We believe every one of us deserves equal access to fact-based news and analysis. We’ve decided to keep Guardian journalism free for all readers, regardless of where they live or what they can afford to pay. This is made possible thanks to the support we receive from readers across America in all 50 states.

As our business model comes under even greater pressure, we’d love your help so that we can carry on our essential work

Favorite

0 members favorited this

Comment

You need to be a member of 12160 Social Network to add comments!

Join 12160 Social Network

Comment by cheeki kea on August 18, 2020 at 10:23am: Well, this is a blessing in disguise, with people now fully focused on the Govts total and utter covid response disaster, that even the President of America called out by name, all and any reports with lies of Success can be firmly laid to rest. The chickens have now come home to roost and crapped all over any limelight left. This now allows people to refocus and concentrate on the other non-covid dark and evil motivations that will come to haunt us. Small parties are mounting up billboards and replacing election hoardings previously damaged by labour workers. Some are making horrendous statements on their posters that shockingly get verified as true. Very disturbing to many people still enveloped in the false 'kindness, wellbeing and compassion' mantra. The ugly truth really hurts people deeply when they suddenly realise all is not as it seems. eg. That many! - What evil individual would want to see a living breathing Baby die. Who are they !! because we have a right to know. https://thebfd.co.nz/2020/03/23/legalising-abortion-which-mps-voted... We have a right to know Everything prior to an election. (to make a fully informed decision on where our votes are to go)

RSS

Welcome to
12160 Social Network

Sign Up
or Sign In

Or sign in with:

"Destroying the New World Order"

Latest Activity

Top News
·
Everything

Doc Vega posted a blog post

A Prelude to WW III ? It Seems There We Are Trailblazing Idiocy into More Blood and Destruction!

They're rolling out the 25th Amendment trying to stop Joe Biden from insanely thrusting the US in a…See More

4 hours ago

0 Comments 0 Favorites

Less Prone posted a video

Chris Langan - The Interview THEY Didn't Want You To See - CTMU [Full Version; Timestamps]

DW Description: Chris Langan is known to have the highest IQ in the world, somewhere between 195 and 210. To give you an idea of what this means, the average...

23 hours ago

0 Comments 0 Favorites

Doc Vega posted a blog post