Comments on: MPs now official

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 20:12:01 +0000

Winston was gracious on election night admitting it was a democracy.

He has been away hiding while all the NZ1st infighting is happening. He is bound to have a crack at something soon ( over the holiday periods when he knows the media are hungry) Lets hope the media take a holiday too or follow Key around, as I think he will be working this summer as he is keen and has a lot of work to do.

By: freethinker

freethinker — Fri, 28 Nov 2008 00:13:27 +0000

David – is there a likelyhood of an electoral petition for overspending by anyone?

[DPF: No, but there may be some prosecutions]

By: bearhunter

bearhunter — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:50:47 +0000

David, they’d have to find Ashraf “the Invisible Man” Choudhary first, wouldn’t they? I’m a bit surprised National didn’t ask for a party vote recount in Palmy, given the majority of five that swung it for Labour.

By: david

david — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:36:53 +0000

How true Murray
They would be better off pursuing Ashraf Choudrey for comment on the latest upsurge in Muslim terrorism and asking him to condemn it, which of course he would do publicly without hesitation.

By: Murray

Murray — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 20:11:09 +0000

Helen who? Michael what?

And why do the media keep treating this Phol Giff or whatever his name is like hes relevant anyway? He’s already thrown the next election with his first three interviews anyway.

By: Ross Miller

Ross Miller — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 19:40:18 +0000

Well so much the mumbling by the Labour Party Secrertary that they were considering applying for judicial recounts in New Plymouth and Waitakere although why Waitakere was in the frame with a 600+ majority for National quite escapes me.

Someone will correct me if I am wrong but post WW2 the only seats were recounts overturned the result were those with majorities of <100.

By: Neil

Neil — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 18:46:51 +0000

This is rather a technical question.
As an older “war horse Tory” I always was pleased to see overseas,hospital and absentee votes come in as they invariably supported National by a large proportion.
Today the flavour seems Green and to a degree Labor.
Working on the premise that overseas travellers were more affluent, National used to scoop up the votes.
David have you any figures showing trends since MMP came in on the party vote percentage from overseas and special voters ?

[DPF: Not off hand but when we get the breakdowns for 2008 can have a look]

By: reddeath26

reddeath26 — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 17:00:22 +0000

@OECD rank 22 kiwi-
I was unaware they were resigning from parliament. I heard it was a possibility for Cullen, however I am quite sure Clark will continue to represent her electorate.

By: OECD rank 22 kiwi

OECD rank 22 kiwi — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 10:18:01 +0000

So when are Helen Clark and Michael Cullen going to resign from parliament? January or February 2009?

By: reddeath26

reddeath26 — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 09:32:37 +0000

@calendar girl-
I laughed. As for the blog itself, it is quite pleasing to see that Labour did not go for a recount to try and get that extra MP in.

By: calendar girl

calendar girl — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:59:48 +0000

So does that mean that in Tauranga Winston felt he couldn’t “Bridge” the gap?

By: georgebolwing

georgebolwing — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 08:33:45 +0000

OK so now it is completely official: Winston is History!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Although I did discover yesterday that while he stopped being paid as a Minister on the day the former PM resigned the Government’s commission, he still gets his basic MPs salary for three months from polling day. As far as I can tell, he doesn;t get any perks like free travel, just the salary.