Results as they happen
As the race for the Beehive hots up, TV and radio will have full election-night coverage.
If a week is a long time in politics, then this election campaign may have prematurely aged the entire country. Yet, there’s still one more choice to make: which electronic medium to turn to on election night.
The fun begins at 7.00pm on both television and radio. On the box, it’s a choice between TVNZ 1’s 1 News
Vote 17 Election Night Special and Three’s Newshub Election Special: Decision 17.
Mike Hosking and Hilary Barry will present TVNZ 1’s coverage and also on hand are Simon Dallow, Wendy Petrie, political editor Corin Dann and Sunday reporter Jehan Casinader. There are fancy new graphics to look forward to, which Dann calls “augmented reality”, similar to those used by CNN and the BBC.
“It’s a 3D graphic that the viewer can see in the middle of the studio,” says Dann. “We can walk around it and point to seats in Parliament. Simon will take care of the results and my job is to try to help work out how a government will be formed.”
Dann, who has been covering elections since 2002, says he’s “flabbergasted” by the campaign’s twists and turns. “It’s been an amazing period. New Zealanders have suddenly become really engaged in politics. People who work in the political media have long periods in Parliament where it’s not that glamorous, so we get off on the energy of people who are engaged and want to talk.”
On Three, Duncan Garner leads the charge. He will be joined by political editor Patrick Gower and The Nation host Lisa Owen. Maori TV’s Election Aotearoa analyses the Maori electorates in its election-night special.
Radio has been adding pictures for a while now, and RNZ National’s team of John Campbell and Guyon Espiner, plus all their commentators, will be presenting from two studios in Auckland. There’s post-election
coverage on Sunday with the Morning Report Election Special at 8.00am.
On Newstalk ZB, Larry Williams, Barry Soper and Rachel Smalley present an election special from 7.00pm. RadioLive taps into the Newshub network of reporters for its coverage, fronted by Mark Sainsbury. His expert panel includes Chris Trotter, Matthew Hooton, Morgan Godfery, Linda Clark, Annabelle Lee and Jon Johansson. Everyone but everyone streams online.
Excited? Dann sounds a note of caution: “I believe we’ve got a very close election on our hands. We may not have a clear result on election night. We may be heading into three weeks of two different negotiations. It’s not impossible.”