So Little says a referendum needs 50% turnout to be valid
Andrew Little has said: Labour has moved to have the second flag referendum canned if the first attracts fewer than half the eligible number of voters, Opposition Leader Andrew Little says. This is the...
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Voting starts today
Voting starts today. For those interested here is how I will be voting in the first referendum: For the last two weeks I was preferring the black, blue and white fern, as black is our de facto national...
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What will turnout be?
Despite one less week of voting, turnout is well up on the 2013 asset sales referendum, both in gross terms, and as a percentage of the population. Votes received today yet to be counted. So turnout...
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We have a winner
By an incredibly narrow margin the black, white and blue silver fern has beaten out the red, white and blue design. Turnout was 48.2% and of the 1,527,042 votes received there were 148,022 informals....
View ArticleKelly calls for a cannabis referendum
Stuff reports: Terminally ill former trade unions boss Helen Kelly wants a referendum on whether cannabis should be legalised, and says she is talking to MPs about making it happen. Kelly, who has lung...
View ArticleWhy the flag vote was for the status quo
Later today we will get the results of the flag referendum. I have little doubt the current flag will win comfortably. If I’m wrong, I’ll be very happy, but I don’t think I am. As I’ve got better...
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How the flag referendum got hit by partisan voting
Thomas Simpson blogs: However interestingly enough there seems to be another factor which acts as an even stronger predictor of support for the fern – namely the proportion of the party vote received...
View ArticleThe Press on CIRs
The Press editorial: When the act allowing for citizens initiated referendums to be held was passed in 1993, it provided that they could only be started after a petition to Parliament signed by 10 per...
View ArticleArmstrong on asset sales referendum
John Armstrong writes in the NZ Herald: The time has surely arrived to dump New Zealand’s failed two-decade-old experiment with American-style citizens-initiated referendums. Anyone questioning that...
View ArticleThe $9 million waste of money dates
3 news reports: A citizens-initiated referendum into National’s asset sales will be held by postal vote in November. Prime Minister John Key confirmed the referendum will cost about $9 million and is...
View ArticleSanity in Switzerland
TVNZ reports: Swiss voters have rejected a proposal to cap the salaries of top executives at 12 times that of a company’s lowest wage, heeding warnings from industry leaders that the measure could harm...
View ArticleMuch higher yes vote than I expected
I was expecting the yes vote in the referendum to be around 15% to 20%. I’m amazed it was 32.1% and the no vote won by 2:1 rather than 4:1. There wasn’t a single party or organisation campaigning for a...
View ArticleReferendum stats
The breakdown by the 70 electorates is interesting. The turnout by group was: Below 30% – five electorates 30% to 35% – five electorates 35% to 40% – seven electorates 40% to 45% – 14 electorates 45%...
View ArticleThe Press on referendum
The Press editorial: There was never any chance the present Government was going to take any notice of the latest one. In any case a botch-up by the organisers meant it was delayed so that by the time...
View ArticleDom Post on referendums
The Dom Post editorial: The referendum on state asset sales was not the first held under the Citizens Initiated Referenda Act 1993. It was the fifth. If opponents of partial privatisation believe the...
View ArticleFinal CIR results
The final results are here. Not Vote 54.93% Vote No 30.30% Vote Yes 14.59% Informal Votes 0.14% Invalid Votes 0.05% Tags: Asset Sales, referendum
View ArticleCraig demands binding referenda
The Herald reports: Conservative Party leader Colin Craig says he would not form a Government with National unless it agreed to introduce binding referenda. Mr Craig confirmed the party’s bottom line...
View ArticleCouncil votes for a policy impossible to implement
Taranaki Daily News reports: A monumental decision made by the new guard of New Plymouth’s council has been revealed as an embarrassing botch-up. Last week the New Plymouth District Council narrowly...
View ArticleA binding referendum on superannuation
Stuff reports: ACT wants a binding referendum on the future of New Zealand’s superannuation and raising the retirement age. Leader David Seymour says a public vote would end the “Mexican stand-off”...
View ArticleThe problem with binding referenda
For advocates of binding referenda, consider this story from The Atlantic: California has always done democracy a bit differently than most other states. Every other year, voters in the Golden State...
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