http://blogs.crikey.com.au/trevorcook/2008/11/08/helen-clark-loses-nz-election/ Trevor Cook on public relations, social media and politics Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:16:29 +1100 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.8.6 hourly 1 http://blogs.crikey.com.au/trevorcook/2008/11/08/helen-clark-loses-nz-election/comment-page-1/#comment-2791 kathleen fisher Fri, 14 Nov 2008 02:00:00 +0000 http://blogs.crikey.com.au/trevorcook/?p=4975#comment-2791 The NZ election also had the second or third lowest turnout of 79% - just 2% higher than the 2002 election turnout. (But this is still high by international stds - Americans were very chuffed to get 65% turn out in the Presidential election). But what is more interesting i think is that in some electorates there was only just over 30% turnout of eligible voters. I understand these were in electorates with high proportions of Maori voters - who have tended to vote Labour. So it seems the election was lost at least partly because of disaffected Labour-leaning voters. Not surprising that the battleground between Labour and Nationals seems set to continue over Maori voters. Nationals now have the highest number of Maori MPs in parliament and are negotiating with the Maori Party for their support for government. And Labour has vowed to win back their lapsed supporters. The NZ election also had the second or third lowest turnout of 79% – just 2% higher than the 2002 election turnout. (But this is still high by international stds – Americans were very chuffed to get 65% turn out in the Presidential election). But what is more interesting i think is that in some electorates there was only just over 30% turnout of eligible voters. I understand these were in electorates with high proportions of Maori voters – who have tended to vote Labour. So it seems the election was lost at least partly because of disaffected Labour-leaning voters. Not surprising that the battleground between Labour and Nationals seems set to continue over Maori voters. Nationals now have the highest number of Maori MPs in parliament and are negotiating with the Maori Party for their support for government. And Labour has vowed to win back their lapsed supporters.

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