Current Events > New Zealand election delayed by four weeks amid coronavirus pandemic

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https://news.sky.com/story/new-zealand-election-delayed-by-four-weeks-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-12050797

New Zealand's general election has been delayed by four weeks, the country's prime minister has announced. Jacinda Ardern said that the coronavirus pandemic makes it more difficult for parties to campaign. The country's election was originally due to be held on 19 September. "Having weighed up all these factors and taken wide soundings, I have decided on balance to move the election by four weeks to 17 October," she told a news conference on Monday morning local time. "Ultimately, 17 October... provides sufficient time for parties to plan around the range of circumstances we will be campaigning under."



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They should do this in the US too. If things aren't better after 4 weeks keep delaying it until it is safe.

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Imagine if Trump did this.

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The New Zealand prime minister is a goof

"We've eradicated this highly infectious microscopic organism from the country completely because our limited testing capacity showed zero positives over a short period of time...it's those fucking chicken wings that brought it back"

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don't give Trump any ideas

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thronedfire2 posted...

don't give Trump any ideas

he would just use the extra time to further kill mail in ballots, remove voting locations in blue areas, and find other ways to suppress votes in order to fraudulently win the election

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Two major points:

1) The leading opposition party had called on Prime Minister Ardern to delay the vote, citing the difficulty in campaigning at a time when the country has dozens of new cases of COVID-19
2) New Zealand has no fixed date for elections: they generally occur every three years or so, but the Prime Minister has discretion as to precisely when they occur. If a Prime Minister attempted to delay the election without legislative-backing, they could be removed by a simple majority in a "vote of confidence"(i.e. if the NZ House of Representatives votes it no longer has confidence in the PM's government)

Oh, and a bonus one: New Zealand has very robust and effective democratic institutions and norms.

ElatedVenusaur posted...

Two major points:

1) The leading opposition party had called on Prime Minister Ardern to delay the vote, citing the difficulty in campaigning at a time when the country has dozens of new cases of COVID-19
2) New Zealand has no fixed date for elections: they generally occur every three years or so, but the Prime Minister has discretion as to precisely when they occur. If a Prime Minister attempted to delay the election without legislative-backing, they could be removed by a simple majority in a "vote of confidence"(i.e. if the NZ House of Representatives votes it no longer has confidence in the PM's government)

Oh, and a bonus one: New Zealand has very robust and effective democratic institutions and norms.

Guaranteed these points will be ignored in this topic.

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Delaying the election will just give Trump an advantage. Its not a risk we can afford to take, the election must go on as planned. People will die but that is a sacrifice we must be willing to make.

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US elections can't be delayed. If no one is chosen in November SotH automatically becomes president.

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REMercsChamp posted...

The New Zealand prime minister is a goof

"We've eradicated this highly infectious microscopic organism from the country completely because our limited testing capacity showed zero positives over a short period of time...it's those fucking chicken wings that brought it back"

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ChopinList posted...

They should do this in the US too. If things aren't better after 4 weeks keep delaying it until it is safe.

It's good when other countries do it.

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Triumphant Trump unironically wins irregardless of delays

#hidinfrombiden

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Dat_Cracka_Jax posted...

It's good when other countries do it.

Well ya, other countries citizens arent as brain rotted and can follow simple guidelines lmao

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Dat_Cracka_Jax posted...

It's good when other countries do it.

Most other countries don't have the inflexibility of US election dates.
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Dat_Cracka_Jax posted...

It's good when other countries do it.

ElatedVenusaur posted...

Two major points:

1) The leading opposition party had called on Prime Minister Ardern to delay the vote, citing the difficulty in campaigning at a time when the country has dozens of new cases of COVID-19
2) New Zealand has no fixed date for elections: they generally occur every three years or so, but the Prime Minister has discretion as to precisely when they occur. If a Prime Minister attempted to delay the election without legislative-backing, they could be removed by a simple majority in a "vote of confidence"(i.e. if the NZ House of Representatives votes it no longer has confidence in the PM's government)

Oh, and a bonus one: New Zealand has very robust and effective democratic institutions and norms.

See, I knew this would be ignored.

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ElatedVenusaur posted...

Two major points:

1) The leading opposition party had called on Prime Minister Ardern to delay the vote, citing the difficulty in campaigning at a time when the country has dozens of new cases of COVID-19
2) New Zealand has no fixed date for elections: they generally occur every three years or so, but the Prime Minister has discretion as to precisely when they occur. If a Prime Minister attempted to delay the election without legislative-backing, they could be removed by a simple majority in a "vote of confidence"(i.e. if the NZ House of Representatives votes it no longer has confidence in the PM's government)

Oh, and a bonus one: New Zealand has very robust and effective democratic institutions and norms.

Yeah, it was pretty obvious that these points would be ignored.

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Th3HonestTruth posted...

Like Japan, their cases are ramping up

Hello Trump propaganda troll account.
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Th3HonestTruth posted...

Like Japan, their cases are ramping up

Youre right. Yesterday they had a staggering six new cases.

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FreedomEtrtment posted...

Where did all these cases come from?

Still under investigation, but the current cluster may have originated from a cold storage facility, so they're wondering if it has been lying dormant this whole time.

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Trump should follow that to but make it 4 year delayed
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Aki_Sora posted...

Trump should follow that to but make it 4 year delayed

It wouldn't extend his presidency. Election or not, he's out.

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We should do that too, I mean if Democrats are serious about corona safety...

If the NZ electoral system is anything like Australia's electoral system, the election date is announced by the government at some point during the election year. We've had news cycles showing concern over the PM not announcing the election date yet, with growing pressure for him to name a date sooner rather than later.

If NZ is similar, then I can see them moving the election date back like this. They pushed it back one month in the midst of a pandemic to give them time to recover, which as we've seen in the past, is a better possibility for a nation like NZ than it is for a nation like America.

Even if the US did go all in on coronavirus prevention, the virus would still be around come November. NZ had 100 days without a new COVID case. I think this decision is being made in good faith, and in the event of things getting worse again, I imagine they're going to try and work out a system that allows the election to go forward without unnecessarily exposing people to the pandemic.

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Into_The_LOL posted...

We should do that too, I mean if Democrats are serious about corona safety...

Appropriate username that describes the stupidity of the posts you make.
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