RODNEY HIDE: Wasted Electorate Votes
It’s not just the party votes for National that were wasted Saturday night. So too were the electorate votes for ACT and New Zealand First.
These votes did not add one extra MP to the centre right. That was 210,914 votes wasted.
And it mattered. The fate of the election may hang on Wairarapa. The margin there is just 139 votes in National’s favour. The specials could flip it. New Zealand First’s Ron Mark got 3,555 votes in that electorate. And didn’t get in. Those votes may well have cost the centre right the election.
If Mr Hipkins emerges as Prime Minister he may well have Ron Mark to thank for his win.
But that’s not the only seat. There are another 6 seats where the electorate vote for New Zealand First and ACT cost the National candidate the seat.
They are Banks Peninsula, Epsom, Hutt South, Mt Roskill, Taieri and Wigram.
On Banks Peninsula, Vanessa Weenink was 2,261 votes behind Labour’s Tracey McLellan. ACT and New Zealand First together took 2,728 electorate votes. That would have put Weenink in by 467.
In Epsom, Paul Goldsmith lost to David Seymour by 2,044. New Zealand First’s Martin Gummer took another 359. Those votes would have put Goldsmith in. Seymour would still have entered Parliament on the list. ACT’s party vote already entitles them to 13 seats.
In Hutt South, Chris Bishop lost to Ginny Andersen by 889. There was no ACT candidate. New Zealand First’s Alistair Boyce took 1,032 votes. That would have put Bishop in by 143.
In Mt Roskill, Carlos Cheung lost to Michael Wood by just 262. ACT’s Yang Qu took 763 votes. There was no New Zealand First candidate. Cheung would have won by 501.
In Taieri, Matthew French was 4,798 behind Ingrid Leary. ACT and New Zealand First together took 6,266 votes -- 4,595 of them for New Zealand First’s Mark Patterson. French would have won by 1,468.
In Wigram, Tracy Summerfield lost to Dominik Yanzick by 1,935. ACT and New Zealand First together took 3,071. Summerfield would have won by 1,136.
The votes were not just wasted -- they cost the centre right seats. Those extra seats would mean we would have a centre right government. There would be a 137-seat parliament with the centre right having a majority with 73 MPs.
Both the Centre Right parties and Centre Right voters need to get a lot smarter about how they campaign.
Rodney Hide is a former Minister and ACT Party leader
You've assumed there that all NZ First votes would have gone to National. That wouldn't have happened but the point is still well made
Luxon / National / John Key have handled the whole election process unbelievably badly . They only had to endorse ‘Party votes’ of National supporters going to ACT or NZ First and the centre-right coalition would already been in power in an unassailable position . Their strategic / tactical ineptitude is hard to believe . It hardly engenders confidence in their judgment and would seem not to augur well should they continue to hold the reins of power .
Hugh Perrett
You mention Taieri my electorate. Always been considered a Labour stronghold. My vote went to Mark Paterson NZ1st because he’s been a hard worker in my electorate and has championed rate payers in South Dunedin recently. When I ask fellow voters in this area anything about Nats candidate French, they all look a bit blank and most say wouldn’t know him if I fell over him. If Nats want electorate wins they need to pull their finger. I don’t even know what French does for a job, whether his interests favour rural or urban. We literally know nothing about him so tell me why vote for him? Yes I accept we have a very Green/Labour pro paper in the ODT…
At least we don't have to be converned about the future of NZ if the left take control. NZ will disappear and Aotearoa will be us. Full name Apartheid Aotearoa. And our young will learn the national officail language of Manglish as they transition to full Te Reo.
Rodney,
We should all be grateful that thanks to Claire and Alia and the RCR team, yourself included, for the massive push to make the best of a bad situation and snatch a hopeful victory from the jaws of defeat.
However...
Rather than a postmortem on how the outcome could have been better if National had not run the 'two ticks blue' campaign and ACT and NZF should have told their voters not to vote for their electorate candidates, would it not be better to do a postmortem on why we still have the Marxist MMP in the first place?
Otherwise it is like spending days having a moaning sessions with recriminations about who got clean underwear and who got…