Editorial: Political parties on home straight will cast off subtle tactical ploys

Labour leader Chris Hipkins serves ice cream from a Mr Whippy truck in Takapuna. Photo / Alex Burton

EDITIORIAL

The election campaign is entering its final week, the horses are on the home straight. Their course is set, it’s too late for changes of position or subtle tactical ploys, it’s an all-out charge for the win and the best the trailing jockey can do is try to put enough pressure on the leader to make him stumble and lose momentum.

Chris Hipkins has been trying to do this since the race began. He declared his party the underdog at the beginning and set out to attack National’s policies more than he promoted his own. Even the most severe critics of this Government’s performance, or lack of it, are probably surprised it has not made more of its record. After two terms in office, a government has to run on its record, and this one does have some achievements.

National, meanwhile, has campaigned like a government, cautiously, taking no risks, enduring valid criticism of its planned tax cuts to retain a clear lead going into the final straight. If this was simply a race to be first past the post, the result would already be obvious, but it is not. The outcome looks likely to be decided by the horses finishing fourth and fifth past the post, if they reach it.

National says it could govern with the party running fourth, Act. It is not so sure about the fifth, New Zealand First, piloted by Winston Peters. At the weekend, National’s campaign chairman Chris Bishop suggested we may face a second election in the event of the “real possibility” that National cannot do a deal with NZ First.

An election rerun is unlikely, National and Act would form a minority government if necessary, as indeed would Labour and the Greens, but in any case Peters looks intent on joining a government.

He is not playing his usual game of keeping the punters guessing. He has ruled out one of the major parties ahead of the result. His campaign livery and themes are in line with National’s and Act’s.

National’s “back on the right track” may be referring only to the economy but NZ First’s “take back our country” is an unabashed appeal to social and cultural conservativism as well. Act shares those concerns and doubts National alone would change very much.

It therefore could be a coherent coalition, as indeed Labour, Greens and Te Pāti Māori could be. We have had three parties in government more often than not over the 27 years since we adopted MMP. It is well past time both major parties gave up warning us of “chaos” under the other.

Germany, the MMP model, is currently governed by its equivalents of Labour, the Greens and Act. Anything is possible when all parties have their country’s welfare at heart.

As a race turns for home with the winning post in sight, excited punters will put aside all distractions, especially the conjecture of pundits and interested parties, to focus intently on the result they want. This is the week voters do the same.