Peters keeps away from coalition talk

Winston Peters

Winston Peters will tomorrow shoot down perceptions that he favours a coalition with National, despite poll results showing his supporters would prefer that path.

New Zealand First dropped 4.7 per cent in the Herald DigiPoll published yesterday. The 7.1 per cent party vote result is likely to be seen as confirming that New Zealand First is losing support among Labour-leaning voters fearful it would side with National if it held the balance of power.

Mr Peters will use his speech launching the party's election campaign as a vehicle to try to counter that perception - and to shift the focus away from talk about which major party New Zealand First might help to form the next Government.

Despite Mr Peters' stunt forecasting a post-election scenario where he had Don Brash calling on one phone and Helen Clark on the other, the party is increasingly of the view the "which way will he swing" mindset puts it in a "no-win" position.

Mr Peters wants to encourage voters to focus on the importance of policy wins in any post-election negotiations instead. He will stress the potential for this to be achieved through a coalition and supply arrangement with NZ First sitting outside of government.

There is understood to be growing support for such an arrangement within the party's caucus.

Highlighting the benefits of sitting outside government also provide Mr Peters with a credibility safeguard if he fails to grab the balance of power. The poll found that 40.6 per cent of NZ First voters want it to go with National, compared with just 21.9 preferring Labour.

However, a significant 31.3 per cent of NZ First supporters said the party should not go into government at all.

The results are in stark contrast to a Fairfax/ACNielsen poll published in early July, which asked NZ First voters the same question. Then 52 per cent opted for a coalition with Labour and 29 per cent with National - a change the party believes is evidence of its floating support base.

Asked if Mr Peters should spell out his preferred partner before the election, 50 per cent of his supporters said "no", but 48 per cent said he should. When all voters were asked the same question 56.1 per cent said he should make his position clear, while 32.2 said "no".

A slight majority of all voters - 32.4 per cent - said Mr Peters should stay outside of government if he held the balance of power.

Asked about the polls yesterday Mr Peters said the media was using them in an attempt to skew public opinion about the election.

On the volatility of recent poll results, he said: "The polling companies have got it wrong dramatically. How can you have that range of polls ... we're a sad little banana republic the way you are behaving."

Asked if his response was a case of sour grapes over his poll decline he said: "We haven't gone down in the polls, that's the whole point."

When asked what the launch would entail he said: "Well you got a bit of it then."