Peters - I won't keep nation waiting

Winston Peters

New Zealand First leader Winston Peters says his party has "learned the hard lessons of 1996" and pledges to conclude any post-election negotiations within three weeks of polling day.

Moving yesterday to deflect opponents' attempts to paint him as unreliable, Mr Peters said it was time to set the record straight about the much maligned aftermath to the 1996 election, when he held lengthy negotiations with Labour before signing up with National.

He blamed adjustment to the then new MMP environment for the nine weeks it took his party to finalise a coalition agreement - although he said yesterday it took seven weeks.

"We were all new to it and were unsure what it would bring," said Mr Peters. "Any politician or journalist who says otherwise is simply being loose with the truth."

He blamed some media for portraying the episode as a crisis, arguing that "the only real crisis at the time was the frenzy journalists worked themselves into trying to work out what was going to happen".

But NZ First had learned the hard lessons of 1996, he said.

"It is clear that the voting public believe that seven weeks is too long for negotiations.

"So I make this guarantee, that whatever decision NZ First arrives at post-election, it will be made public by the day the writs are returned, which is within three weeks from polling day."

Writs are legal papers issued when an election is called. They must be returned, endorsed with the name of the person elected, within 50 days.

NZ First is consistently polling as the third biggest party, which could enable Mr Peters to play kingmaker and determine whether National or Labour leads the Government after the election.

That would happen only if the results prevented either of the bigger parties cobbling together a coalition with any number of other parties - giving him the ultimate and only say.

Mr Peters asked why NZ First should outline which party it might negotiate with when neither Labour nor National would outline their options for government.

National leader Don Brash has repeatedly said National could work with either of the three "centre-right parties", which he defines as Act, United Future and NZ First.

Prime Minister Helen Clark has repeatedly said she would prefer to work again with the parties she now works with - the Progressives, United Future and the Greens - if given the chance to form another Government.