Kerre McIvor: Unity and democracy our biggest winners

David Seymour is no longer the Nigel NoMates of politics. Photo / Mark Mitchell

Being part of the team of 5 million was a big deal for a lot of people and they were hardly likely to sack their team leader.

"Have you voted," I asked a mate of mine in Wellington on Friday night.

"Oh, yes," she said. I voted last week. Red, red, stoned and dead.

It was a good line and a relatively accurate prediction.

I was at work last night to write my column as the results came in and it was a lot of fun being part of a team working for a common cause — and that, I think, was what we saw in the voting last night.

Being part of the team of 5 million was a big deal for a lot of people and they were hardly likely to sack their team leader, the one who'd led them to victory in the war against Covid, as the narrative has been framed.

Labour were winners and grinners but we were expecting them to be, if the polls translated into votes.
The Greens had a good night too. I was amazed at the number of people I knew who were voting Green — some of them young and progressive, as you'd expect; others in the 40-plus age bracket who would be directly affected by any Green taxation policy.

Act were winners too. David Seymour is no longer the Nigel NoMates of politics, bringing into Parliament for the first time a host of newly-minted MPs.

For National, it was a predictable thumping and only what they deserved after their shambolic lead-up to the election campaign.

Judith Collins did her best and doesn't deserve to be rolled, but the best thing National can do is take their ignominious defeat on the chin and rebuild the party and its support.

And as for New Zealand First — if Shane Jones can't buy a seat when he has $3 billion to play with in the Provincial Growth Fund, he doesn't deserve to be in Parliament.

It's the end of an era with Winston Peters not being in the House. He's come back from electoral defeats before but surely it's the end of the road for the old campaigner now. And that's it.

The 2020 election done and dusted. And aren't we lucky? We have different opinions, different ideologies, different political allegiances — and we all got to have our say and nobody died. I don't think we should ever take that for granted.