[EM] NZ voters urged to back majority, one-party rule

[DEMOREP1 at aol.com]

The obvious remedy continues- separate elections of the executive and 
legislative branches.
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NZ voters urged to back majority, one-party rule

By Marion Rae

  
WELLINGTON, Oct 28 (Reuters) - New Zealand's top two political leaders on 
Thursday urged voters to return the country to majority, single-party rule at 
next month's general election. 

Prime Minister Jenny Shipley, whose National Party is the minority ruler, 
called for a "tidy vote" for her party and warned of a do-nothing coalition 
government if this did not happen. 

The opposition Labour Party also made its pitch for a simple majority on 
November 27 and asked voters not to split their votes -- as they are allowed 
to do under the electoral system. 

Shipley said she wanted to be alone at the helm, free from the internal 
bickering that might come with a coalition. 

"If people with whom I am working are working for New Zealand, I'm prepared 
to work with them, and if they are inclined to work against New Zealand, I'll 
fire them," Shipley told an audience of Wellington employers at a lunch on 
Thursday. 

Labour and National are running almost neck and neck in opinion polls, but 
about one fifth of voters are undecided and a jumble of minor parties are 
poised to play a make-or-break role in coalition-building talks after polling 
day. 

New Zealand's electoral system works against one-party rule. 

Under the German-style system of proportional representation, each voter has 
two votes -- a party vote and a local constituency vote. The system's 
introduction of at the last election in 1996 has spawned a myriad of minor 
parties. 

It is a far cry from the past when, under a Westminster-style 
first-past-the-post voting system, one or other of the two major parties 
formed government. 

RISK OF STALEMATE 

A stalemate emerged at the 1996 election and, after months of tortuous talks, 
the result was a coalition government of National and the small populist NZ 
First Party led by Winston Peters. 

That combination came to a sticky end in 1998, with National opting to press 
on as a minority administration. 

"If they vote National it won't be a problem because we'll be able to form a 
government without NZ First, and that certainly is my preferred first option. 
I want to make that clear," Shipley said. 

Labour will campaign for voters to give it both their party vote and local 
constituency vote in a bid to get a simple majority and govern alone, said 
party strategist Steve Maharey. 

"We need two votes to change the government," he said. 

"We have only one preference and that is to get rid of the National 
government," Labour leader Helen Clark was quoted as saying in the Evening 
Post newspaper on Thursday. "The clear preference is to have that as 
uncomplicated as possible." 

However, if any minor party crosses a five-percent party vote threshold, or 
wins a constituency, its total share of the vote can translate into several 
seats in the 120-seat parliament. 

Late on Wednesday, charismatic NZ First leader Peters took a non-aligned 
stance. "We may well remain on the crossbenches and vote issue by issue after 
the election," Peters said. 

Neither Clark nor Shipley wants to side with Peters, though his party may be 
pivotal to the outcome of the election. 

Labour has aligned itself with the left-wing Alliance Party and National has 
courted the free-market ACT party. 

Labour has also signalled a readiness to court the Green Party, which could 
win three seats in total. But the National Party says it would be unlikely to 
govern with the greens. 

02:00 10-28-99