This was going to be an interesting election even before Mana and the Internet Party started making eyes at each other. If we've learned anything from MMP it's that politics makes for strange bedfellows. In fact MMP by its nature demands different parties finding common ground.
We've seen it from the early days of New Zealand First and Winston Peters' kingmaking through to the Kim and Hone show. So we shouldn't be so surprised when the prospects of new alliances pop up. But who was the sitting electorate MP flirting with giving the Internet Party a free ride into Parliament? The party has announced the end of talks with the MP, who it was said had initially agreed to join it.
You'd have to assume the MP's seat was relatively safe, given the negative impact switching parties could have had. With that seat, Kim Dotcom's Internet Party wouldn't have needed to reach the 5 per cent threshold required to enter Parliament, which on current polling would have been dreaming. But the discussions with the Mana Party have seen negotiations with the MP scrapped.
The Internet Party said this week: "Following the recent decision of delegates at the Mana AGM to continue negotiations with the Internet Party regarding a possible alliance, the current MP and the Internet Party have mutually agreed to end further discussions." Kim Dotcom has said the MP is not Mana Party leader Hone Harawira, but he's not saying any more on his or her identity.
Whoever it is, you'd have to wonder what would have been in it for them. And if they're not that happy with their situation, what will they consider next? New Zealand's Game of Thrones is almost as messy as the fictional one.
