Editorial: Voters have capacity to surprise in our elections

Andrew Austin, Editor of Hawke's Bay Today.

The results of the British elections last week continued a trend of unpredictability and voter revolt.

It started with the Brexit referendum last year when polls predicted Britons would vote to remain in the European Union. They did not and this has led to the current situation where the Prime Minister Theresa May finds herself worse off (forming a minority government) than she was before she called an early snap election.

Link this with last year's election result in the United States where Donald Trump, who was ridiculed when he first stood for office, thumped establishment candidate Hillary Clinton, and you can see that politics as we know it has changed.

The clear message is that people are tired of politicians not listening to them so they are using their vote to make themselves heard.

It will be interesting to see what effect the new phenomenon of voter uprising has on our elections later this year.

The latest TVNZ Colmar-Brunton poll indicates that National is in a strong position, rising three percentage points to 49 per cent, which means it would be able to form a government with the help of two out of three of its support partners.

But, anything can happen. Some observers don't believe Labour (sitting about 30 per cent in the poll) will be able to topple National. This once again brings Winston Peters into the picture and one could argue that the current situation is perfect for Mr Peters to exploit.

This election may well spring a few surprises, even at a local level.
It simply depends on what frame of mind voters are in.