Overseas Votes from Wednesday November 9th

I rechecked my eligibility and have been informed that I am indeed allowed to vote in this year’s NZ general election which is great considering I have been offshore for 8 years. For those who do live offshore, we can vote as from tomorrow - November 9th. All information can be found here.
As I will be leaving this blog after this election and indeed all things political, I guess I should be blogging more often until then. With 16 more days to go it is set to be a very boring campaign highlighted by the fact that Labour still has not learned anything after their massive loss in 08. The arrogance and nasty attacks on the Government, and the feeling that they SHOULD be in Government has not eluded them.

National not only have this in the bank, they can sit back and ride upon the popularity of their leader for at least 3 more years without too much effort.

ACT look like they could be in danger but unlike every other election where the media guarantee they will lose Epsom or not make 5% - they face another danger – John Banks winning Epsom and forcing the party to be his bitch. For anybody who has supported ACT or voted for the party in the past, this is like swallowing the biggest, fattest, most disease ridden rat one could find. Never mind the quality of the other top 5 or 6 – which are in a class above every other party – Banks simply doesn’t fit into the party philosophy full stop. On that basis, you’ll see Helen Clark stand for National at the next election… he’s not compatible with ACT policy – it’s as simple as that.

Blair in his previous post has put together a pretty neat voting guide – so I don’t need to elaborate too much further on this. The MMP referendum doesn't really bother me - pisspoor campaign from both sides of the coin as far as I'm concerned. The left wanted MMP to stop the right and when they couldn't use MMP to bring hardline left wing policies many wanted STV... while establishment parties like Labour and National would not cry too much if FPP came back.

I will probably head down to the NZ High Commission sometime this week and make my special vote – I live in the Nelson electorate – so will do my part in voting against Nick Smith!

Bring on the election!