More than one third of the eligible voters in New Zealand have exercised special voting right already, before the election day of 17th October on coming Saturday. This shows the sheer excitement and deep interest of New Zealanders about these elections, especially in the wake of the unprecedented economic situations created post Covid-19. Last minute promises are being dished out by different political parties to lure the undecided voters in a bid to turn the table for all major political rivals.

The current incumbent Labour Party and main opposition, National party do understand the ground reality of the huge expectations of New Zealanders from any party winning this election. It will be an uphill task for any government coming to power on next Monday to restore country’s economy back on track. These are not any ordinary elections this year as not only New Zealand, but the entire world has gone through to some of the worst times in recent history. So just winning the election will not be enough achievement for any political party as the challenges lying ahead of them will be the testing time of their political management skills. With every passing day we can notice the growing aggression among political leader’s tone and language. Several slips of tongue happening routinely by many politicians and the prospective voters are vouching for their every movement. Just a couple of days back, National leader Judith Collins in a radio interview, on being asked to answer about ‘Obesity’ described it as a personal weakness and said people should take some responsibility of their personal choices and should not blame the system always. For her comments, some commentators have called Judith as heartless to which she retorted that why some people think the someone else should take care of their health. Now, even though she might have said something that may be one hundred percent correct, but this may cost her dearly at the time of elections. She clearly is not getting enough support from her predecessors Todd Muller and Simon Bridges hence her frustration has to come out somewhere. Unfortunately, the National party despite of having a very strong base of its loyal supporters does not appear like one united unit.

Labour party and Jacinda Ardern on the other hand are riding high in the popularity index with Jacinda still sitting very high as preferred Prime Minister, miles ahead of her nearest rival. Actually, this election Jacinda will be reaping on the good work she has done during the pandemic crisis and after the Christchurch massacre. Her these two major achievements have increased her profile and stature to that of a world leader. In a world where even the superpower like America has struggled in handling the pandemic and failed miserably, New Zealand has come out almost clean as a winner without much damage to economy or loss of lives of its people. There are only a few countries in world to achieve this feat and all the efforts her government made to achieve this are laudable. There have not been any major mishap or failures during her entire tenure of three years which goes in her favour so overall, situations are still favouring her to pave the way for her come back. No one can read the mind of the voters but if poll surveys are any indicators then it should be an easy run for Jacinda for a second term.

Which ever party holds the reign of power from next Monday, they will be required to go into action straightaway. The country needs an urgent boost to the economy so the new government will need to address this most serious issue on a priority basis. If the new government is able to nail it down effectively, they may have a smooth sailing for next three years.

-Yugal Parashar