Local election political puppets

Deceptive branding in the 2016 local elections, with Auckland candidates hiding their political affiliations, has come under fire from an academic.

Massey University senior lecturer in politics Dr Andy Asquith has criticised the trend of candidates with major party backgrounds running as independents and on ambiguous political tickets.

‘‘The main political parties dance around this,’’ Asquith says.

‘‘We have this nonsense of Phil Goff being an independent candidate for mayor.

‘‘If Phil Goff becomes mayor, is he going to ditch all his centre-left baggage and become independent?

‘‘The whole of Auckland, and the North Shore especially, has been thrown into quite an interesting spin by the emergence of Auckland Future which is a branch of the National Party.’’

Dr Asquith says local elections are historically ignored among the New Zealand public but they actually have the greatest impact on people’s daily lives.

‘‘Local government is the most important political entity in the lives of New Zealanders without a shadow of a doubt,’’ Asquith says.

‘‘Within New Zealand, Auckland Council is the most important institution full stop.

‘‘If it doesn’t work, then the country doesn’t work.’’

Politics lecturer Dr Andy Asquith.