The votes are in.
The votes are in and there are some people with some definite opinions on the matter.
NZ First gave its support to the New Zealand Labour Party, and so crowned was a coalition government with Jacinda Ardern at the helm.
In the wake of change has come a storm of outrage via the social media, namely Facebook.
Many people are stoked with the change, and happy to have a new leader. Almost as many are absolutely outraged and taking to the internet to state as much; and a few others are not sure they got the change they voted for.
After nine-years of a National-led government, it could definitely be time for a mix up in parliament. Change can be a good thing, if we allow ourselves to give change a go.
(Honestly, it has even’t been a week. Give them a chance to show us what they’re made of!)
But, there is a load of blame being stacked up against NZ’s MMP (Mixed Member Proportional) electoral system, for what many are calling a “coalition of losers“.
Under MMP parties can form a coalition in order to gain seats in parliament and become the majority group, thus forming a government, if no singular party has enough seats to govern alone.
As a nation we’ve been given a number of opportunities to vote against MMP, the most recent being in 2011 at the same time as the parliamentary elections.
57% of voters preferred to keep MMP over going back to the old FPP (First Past the Post) system.
MMP was summed up pretty well by one Facebook user:
“There’s one mince and cheese pie left in the shop and it costs $5.
Bill has $4.50
Jacinda has $3.70
Winston has 70c
James has 60c
and David has 5c
No one has enough money to buy the pie by themselves but Jacinda, Winston and James put their money together and buy the pie.
Bill gets no pie because he needed 50c more but didn’t have any friends to help him pay for the pie.”
Only time will tell whether Prime Minister Jacinda Arden is the queen half of New Zealand want her to be; only time will tell whether Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters was in it for himself, or not; And maybe, just maybe… time will give us a New Zealand Taika Waititi can be proud of.
Whether we like it or not, MMP is what NZers voted for, and and a new leader is what MMP gave us.
While there are some challenges afoot for businesses needing to cover the raise in Minimum Wage; and in re-calibrating some of our priorities as a whole country, ultimately everybody wins.
The rich stay rich.
The poor get a little bit richer.
And the environment gets rich too.
Win. Win. Win.
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NB: Click here for a great history on MMP in New Zealand.