Local political candidates had to handle some close questioning at a crowded Raglan Town Hall on Sunday.
More than 70 people braved miserable weather to hear the candidates and grill them on a range of issues. The lively interest in this year’s election was in contrast to the much smaller meeting in 2014.
The two convenors, Lisa Thomson and Leanne Steele, kept things moving along, with strict time limits on responses. That kept the political speeches short and sharp.
The meeting started with an explanation of “two tick” voting, which still confuses some voters. It was explained that every voter has a party vote and a candidate vote. The party vote matters more, as the party with the most votes usually gets to form the government, in coalition with minor parties. The party vote goes to deciding how many MPs each party gets. This gives the opportunity for strategic voting. By giving your party vote to your preferred coalition partner you get to shape the government. (The party vote is only wasted if the party you vote for gets less than 5%.)
The second tick is for a local candidate. Most Raglan voters are in Taranaki-King Country, the 10th safest National seat, so it’s not likely to matter how you use your electorate vote. However, some are in the Maori constituency of Hauraki-Waikato, where the candidate vote could well decide whether Nanaia Mahuta remains the Labour MP.
After the introductions, the candidates faced questions covering all the usual topics – education, health, transport, jobs, poverty, housing, climate change, seabed mining, plastic bags – as well as less usual ones, such as hemp, voluntary euthanasia, live animal exports. In most cases they were answered fairly predictably, though, for a few, the ’non professional’ candidates offered to find out; as was pointed out in the introduction, 3 of the 4 candidates are volunteering their time, only our current MP being paid for the job.
There are several websites with advice on how to choose the party with policies you agree with – eg. http://voteforpolicies.org.nz/ and http://www.onthefence.co.nz/. You can enrol to vote, or advance vote before the Sat 23 polling day, 10-4 every day in the Town Hall Supper Room up to the election.