The left is upset that Act’s chances of returning to parliament have improved because they regard it as extreme.
That’s the problem with MMP in New Zealand, there isn’t an effective centre party to be a moderating force between National and Labour.
United is a one-man band, and one which recent polls show is in danger of losing his seat.
The Maori Party was regarded as the last cab off the rank by Labour. It has shown it can work with National and Labour would have no choice but to offer it something should the left get enough votes to make a Labour-led government a possibility. But, while it could go right or left it’s not a centrist party, it’s conservative on social issues, left on economic ones and its prime focus is Maori.
NZ First, stands for whatever baubles its leaders can get.
The Green Party is trying to look more moderate but for every step they take to the centre they announce policy which drags them several steps back to the left.
The Conservative Party is starting to register in the polls but is very unlikely to get any seats in parliament and it is probably to the right of National anyway.
That leaves National on the centre right and Labour on the centre left. They are beholden by MMP to make accommodations with other parties to get a majority and those other parties are further to the right than National and further left than Labour.
MMP is supposed to allow people’s votes to result in representation in parliament by the party they tick. But in 2002 some National voters held their noses and ticked Labour to reduce the influence of the Greens. If it looks like National will win this time some Labour voters might hold their noses and tick National to reduce the influence of Act.
Homepaddock 
I think the lack of a centrist party is a symptom of the fact that at the moment parties like Greens, Labour and National cover the center pretty well. That is the middle ground where most of the actual swing voters ‘live’ so they covet that area. Moving too far away from this niche to cover the far left and right wing parties which only have one natural coalition partner doesn’t make sense, a party in the center is harder to control because it has two choices so naturally no major party has reason to give up this ground.
From a rural perspective it doesn’t always follow for instance that National would be the best party. Their MO is pragmatic conservatism which works great in business as usual scenarios, however the world is changing and the expectations of our customers are changing too. Changing with the times might seem more difficult initially but it may be far more rewarding to a farmers bottom line. I’m not saying that they should take-over rural politics but the input of the Green party might give some innovative solutions from a fresh perspective.
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Richard, before you make your decisions, you may want to wait for all of the parties’ conservation policies.
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“MMP is supposed to allow people’s votes to result in representation in parliament by the party they tick. But in 2002 some National voters held their noses and ticked Labour to reduce the influence of the Greens.” – surely this is a prime example of people getting what they want.
The fact that they used thier votes strategically in this instance is exactly what voters for ‘minor’ parties used to have to do in marginal seats under FPP.
It is disingenuious of you to claim MMP makes this a problem when it has been happening for years.
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Ross, I keep getting confronted by iphones and ipods and it seems that image really rules the day more than we realise. I think if we can work together and present the best image to the world then we’ll receive top dollar for our products. We need to work smarter, not harder.
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