Auckland (The NZ Today)
Tensions inside the centre-right bloc have intensified after National complained to the Electoral Commission about a campaign encouraging voters to give their electorate vote to National but their party vote to ACT or New Zealand First.
The Split Your Vote campaign, linked to businessman Harry Mowbray, promoted the tactic as a way of increasing the overall number of MPs on the centre-right.
National, however, says the advertising risked confusing voters and did not comply with election rules. The party confirmed it had referred the matter to the Electoral Commission.
The unusual twist is that National’s coalition partners were willing to approve advertising promoting the same broad strategy.
ACT leader David Seymour confirmed his party had given permission for an advertisement associated with the campaign after being approached for approval.
New Zealand First also confirmed it had authorised a separate Reality Check Radio advertisement promoting a similar vote-splitting strategy and encouraging a party vote for NZ First.
National has taken the opposite approach throughout the final stage of the campaign, urging supporters to give the party both their electorate and party votes.
Its argument is that National needs to finish ahead of Labour in the party vote and that shifting support to ACT or NZ First could reduce the number of National MPs returned to Parliament.
The split-vote strategy relies partly on the possibility of an overhang, which can occur when a party wins more electorate seats than its share of the party vote would normally entitle it to.
Under MMP, additional seats can then be added to Parliament rather than taking those electorate seats away. The Electoral Commission has previously noted that voters are free to give their electorate and party votes to different parties.
For National, however, a significant shift of party votes to ACT or NZ First could have consequences for its list MPs, particularly if the party continues winning a large number of electorate seats.
The dispute comes as ACT has been directly telling supporters they do not need to switch to National to “play it safe”.
Seymour argued on Thursday that an extra ACT MP contributes to the centre-right bloc just as an additional National MP would, while National continues to insist its supporters should give it both votes.
Christopher Luxon took a less confrontational approach when asked about strategic voting, saying voters ultimately had the right to decide for themselves how to use their two votes.
Labour leader Chris Hipkins has criticised the centre-right vote-splitting push, arguing voters could end up producing a parliamentary outcome they did not expect.
The Electoral Commission has confirmed it is examining advertising connected to Mowbray’s campaign, including whether it was properly authorised. The splityourvote.co.nz website has since been taken offline.
Mowbray told RNZ he believed National was behind the complaint and said he had not initially realised his website would be treated as election promotion requiring compliance with advertising rules.
Source: 1News and RNZ
