Let’s pause to consider biggest losers
ANALYSIS: You’ve got to hand it to those who put themselves out there during the election.
Not just the major party leaders, who risk the most public gains or losses, but also the smaller parties and lesser-known individuals who put their future in the hands of democracy.
People like Gareth Morgan, who pumped millions of dollars of his own money into the election campaign. A former economist who’s been described as New Zealand’s Bernie Sanders, Morgan launched The Opportunities Party (Top) in November 2016 with a core group of just seven supporters.
The centrepiece of the party’s policies was overhauling the tax system. Identifying a fundamental flaw in current tax policies, he wanted to create a minimum rate of return on all housing and land while dropping income tax.
Ultimately, his goal was to reverse the current New Zealand trend, so that incomes rose faster than house prices.
However, Morgan failed to cut through. And he was far from happy about TOP’s result: just over 2 per cent of the party vote.
But while Top didn’t meet the requirements for making it into Parliament — an electorate seat or 5 per cent of all party votes — it didn’t do too badly compared to other parties.
Both Democrats for Social Credit and the Internet Party didn’t even break 0.1 per cent of the total party votes. The latter got just 464 votes.
When it came to the electorate votes, again, the minor parties had a rough time.
Save for ACT’s David Seymour, who retained his seat in Epsom, Auckland, all the winning candidates were from either National or Labour. Notably, the strength of Labour in the Ma¯ ori electorates saw the Ma¯ ori Party booted from Parliament.
It’s not unusual for unknowns to get fewer than 100 votes. In fact, 30 electorate candidates around the country didn’t make 100 votes. But Bob Wessex in Wellington Central was the country’s lowestpolling candidate, with just 14 votes.
Wessex was standing for Not A Party (NAP), which claims to be ‘‘mobilising the non-vote in Aotearoa’’. On her candidate profile, Wessex urges Kiwis to do ‘‘something that makes a difference to your community. Just don’t vote 2017’’.
But one of her 14 supporters has spoken out, saying he regrets his vote. A commenter going by the name of Gary wrote: ‘‘So disappointed in myself after being misled to vote for you in Wellington Central. I didn’t have time to research any policies of any party so I just went by the name.
‘‘To find out that NAP [Not a Party] had nothing to do with taking a nap whenever you wanted means I have wasted my vote... ‘‘Gutted, Gary of Wellington.’’ And that’s what democracy looks like.