What a great thread. I think most users on here will welcome the chance to talk politics.
First up, I will be voting NZ First. Winston frustrates the crap out of me but I do like Ron Mark. Shane Jones will represent anyone whom will get him into Parliament, something I am not happy about. I won't be trying to convince anyone of doing the same. I value that in the past some people gave their lives up to preserve my right to vote. Thank you to them.
Every election since I was 18, I made it my duty to vote and over the years I have voted, National, Labour and NZ First. At the various times each of the parties offered some policy/policies that appealed to me at the time. Time has also taught me that most politicians are liars and are just out for themselves (Take note The Minister for Self Preservation, Minister for Fence Sitting and the Minister of Flip Flop. You know who you are with those weird bow ties).
Anyway, I think the Greens just lost a lot more votes than they gained. What a ridiculous idea of restoring full benefits and removing the drug testing. Sadly, this pitched aimed firmly at gaining the Benefit vote or Low income vote was not thought out. The one thing I agreed with National on, was the drug testing for beneficiaries. Instead of wasting their benefits on drugs, they could be using it in a more productive way. Obviously this applies to that small minority that seem to show up at every protest march etc. NOT the real people whom have lost their job or become single with kids and are struggling to make ends meet. For them, I feel for. I know what it is like to be a single income with a couple of kids.
United Future will no doubt again fence sit and run with what is promising to be popular. Act will become extinct. National will get in, Labour will lose more ground and the Maori party will stay as they are. And Gareth? Well he's offering $200 at the moment. I could suggest that it was a vote buying exercise but I maybe better informed by others on here.
Sadly, I look at 120 politicians of which I probably could not name 80, due to their lack of time in the spotlight. I think we should have gone to STV (NOT MMP) and cut the number of electorates down to 60 for the whole country. I'd like to see tightening up on a lot of MP perkies too. I maybe wrong but I have always felt New Zealanders just want to see a fair shake of the dice and people working for their country rather than feathering their own nests. I also would like to lose the party lists.