Last Saturday's General Election

If you are a die-hard labour supporter like me then you would have been extremely dissapointed with last Saturday's election result. Although the result was totally predictable, even from a year ago it still hurt. New Zealanders are a fickle lot when it comes to deciding if a government should remain in office beyond two terms. In New Zealand a government serves a term of three years then is up for re-election. I can only think of one New Zealand government since 1945 to make it to a fourth term in office. That was Keith Holyoake's National government from 1960 to 1972. Helen Clark's Labour government attempted to emulate that feat last Saturday, but failed.

Clarks's failure to secure a fourth term in office appears to stem from New Zealander's fickle nature towards politicians who stay in office too long. It wasn't as if Clark's government had screwed up on either economic or foreign policy issues. During her watch especially the first six years the New Zealand economy boomed, unemployment reached its lowest figure in decades, export prices were good, business confidence was high, wages and salaries had begun to rise and there was a general feeling of pride. The following issues were tackled such as narrowing the gap between the haves and the have nots that had occurred as a result of the free market approach pursued by the previous National administration. To narrow the gap Labour introduced Working for Families. The establishment of Kiwi Bank a soley owned New Zealand bank with benefits staying in New Zealand. During Labour's third term in office they introduced Kiwisaver a state controlled pension fund where both employees and employers contibute to. Simply put the Labour government resurected John Maynard Keynes who long advocated that there is always a role for governments in the economy. So, where did Labour go wrong?

Judging from the comments that I've read in various New Zealand newspapers it seemed that most people who voted for the National party wanted change. There was an air of dis-satisfaction in a number of areas. They were Clark's perceived arrogance, and that of her government, the introduction of unpopular laws such as the anti-smacking law. By 2005 there were signs that the world economy was beginning to slow down. This began to impact on New Zealand with its export driven economy. In the summer of 2007 the housing boom in the US came to an abrupt halt with foreclosures hitting record levels which later created the current financial crisis. New Zealand's economy began to falter. There was a belief held by many New Zealand voters that National is better equipped to handle the current financial crisis facing New Zealand. What evidence to support that notion was never explained perhaps the fact that the new New Zealand Prime Minister was a forex dealer seemed to hold sway. I personally seem to think that a lot had to do with New Zealander's belief that a government that stays in office too long is a bad government so for that reason people wanted change. The irony of this desire for change is the fact New Zealand jumped to the right whereas countries of our western democratic persuasion such as Australia, the UK and recently the US jumped to the left. It appears that New Zealand is out of step with the rest of its major trading partners. Only time will tell if Saturday's election result was the right choice.