Time for some answers
AFTER weeks of questions, tomorrow, you, the voters, provide the answers.
Has Labour done enough to return it to office?
Has National provided an attractive alternative?
Does New Zealand First have enough support to remain in Parliament . . . or the Green Party for that matter?
Will its high polling numbers translate into several seats for Act New Zealand, and is there a place for any of the smaller parties in the next Parliament?
There is also the weighty matter of two referendums, although the preliminary results of the vote on the End of Life Choice Act and reform of cannabis laws will not be known until October 30.
By 7pm tomorrow, more than 2.5 million votes will have been cast and the 2020 election will be all over bar the counting.
Every election, every candidate will tell you that this is the most important election in years.
In 2020, it has felt like that cliche has validity with Covid19 casting a dark shadow over proceedings.
For that reason, another wellworn cliche, that every vote matters, also holds true in 2020.
An election debate which has embraced everything from wealth taxes to obesity has, generally, been measured and decorous.
National leader Judith Collins has tried to offer a genuine alternative to Labour leader Jacinda Ardern, although the short time Ms Collins has had as party leader has made her task a difficult one.
Ms Ardern, meanwhile, has had the luxury of recordhigh poll numbers, but has also had to dampen down expectations that she might enjoy a comfortable victory in case that engenders a potentially decisive false sense of security.
Labour only has to look back three years to know that a scrappy underdog behind in the polls can score an unexpected election win — that 2017 result also offers hope for National it can spring a surprise.
Also enjoying record poll numbers is Act, but party leader David Seymour has been a sole MP for long enough to know not to count his MPs until they are actually elected.
The Greens and New Zealand First will, as always, have a nervous night as they watch the party vote share and hope they can clear 5% with some room to spare.
The Maori Party and the other minor parties are longer odds propositions to make it to Parliament, but cannot be written off until the voters have their say.
After the dust has settled, there will be plenty more questions for whoever forms the next government to answer.
Are the measures in place to stop the spread of Covid19 sufficient?
Will their economic policies be sufficient to revive the economy from its Covid19 travails?
Will unemployment rise?
Will incomes fall?
Will housing be affordable? There are many others, and there are the ones that noone has even thought of yet — who predicted that between 2017 and now the government would have to deal with a volcanic eruption, a heinous act of terrorism, and then a pandemic?
The New Zealand public will be placing an enormous weight on either Jacinda Ardern or Judith Collins’ shoulders tomorrow evening, and the winner will have a difficult three years ahead of them.