SYDNEY, Australia – New Zealand said on Monday that it would postpone its national elections by four weeks as a cluster of new cases of coronavirus passed through the city of Auckland, despite a lockdown.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has the sole authority to determine when people vote, said she had consulted with all major parties before the vote, originally scheduled for September 19, was delayed until October 17.
Ms Ardern called the decision a compromise that “provides ample time for parties to plan for the range of circumstances in which we can campaign, for the Electoral Commission to prepare and for voters to assure them of a safe, accessible and critical election. . “
They also ruled out further change. Even if the outbreak gets worse, she said, “we will stick to the date we have.”
The shift will hold election day within the time frame allowed under the law – the last possible date is Nov. 21. – but it also highlights national concerns, as a cluster of at least 58 new cases frustrates investigators, clears the streets of Auckland and plans to stop campaign events.
Ms Ardern’s approval ratings skyrocketed after the country’s first lockdown, in late March, leading to what health officials described as eliminating the virus and returning to normal life, with plenty of restaurants, stadiums and schools. Now, she has greater control over what has gone wrong and how long the country will have to endure another round of restrictions.
“If it turns out that there was significant oversight, lax regulation or poor implementation, that could have a very significant impact on the story,” said Richard Shaw, a political professor at Massey University in Palmerston North, New Zealand.
But, he added, “there is a deep reservoir of goodwill for the prime minister,” and it is possible that the way she has handled the election delay will only support her chances.
“She may have added just 5 per cent to her poll by making an announcement that many New Zealanders think is reasonable, honest and sensible,” he said. Shaw.
He added that the election delay was in part inevitable, as the September date on Monday would require the dissolution of parliament to allow a month of campaigning. Parliament will now be dissolved on September 6.
‘She had to be seen as responding to this,’ ‘he said of Mrs Ardern. “It’s a straightforward political decision.”
New Zealand’s elections are far from the first to be postponed due to the pandemic. Hong Kong cited the virus in delay by a year a vote of the Legislative Council; more than a dozen U.S. states are relocating the date of their primaries, as is New York City. And although President Trump pushed the idea to delay the general election, he was immediately shut down by members of Congress and his own party.
In the short term, Ms. Ardern’s delay will allow her government to focus primarily on the virus. New Zealand health officials are still scrambling to test thousands of workers at airports and other entrances, along with quarantine facilities and a frozen food warehouse, to try to determine how the virus re-emerged last week after 102 days without known transmission of ‘ the community.
On Sunday, officials announced 12 new cases linked to the cluster of four from last Sunday. On Monday, they announced nine more.
Pressure on Mrs Ardern and her PvdA to change the date was built several days. A New Zealand Herald-Kantar poll conducted over the weekend found that 60 per cent of New Zealanders advocated a delay.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Updated August 12, 2020
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- Many states have travel restrictions, and many of them are taking active measures to enforce those restrictions, such as issuing fines or requiring visitors to be quarantined for 14 days. Here is an ever-updating list of restrictions across statewide. In general, travel increases your chances of getting and spreading the virus, because you will encounter more people than if you stayed at home in your own ‘pod’. “Staying at home is the best way to protect yourself and others from Covid-19,” the CDC said. However, if you are traveling, take precautionary measures. If you can, drive. If you have to fly, be careful when choosing your airline. But know that airlines are taking real steps to keep planes clean and limit your risk.
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- The incentive bills introduced in March provide assistance to the millions of American small businesses. Those eligible for support are non-profit companies and organizations with less than 500 workers, including sole proprietorships, independent contractors and freelancers. Some larger companies in some sectors are also eligible. The assistance provided, which is managed by the Small Business Administration, includes the Paycheck Protection Program and the Economic Damage Disaster Program. But many people have not seen payments yet. Even those who have received help are confused: the rules are draconian, and some are stuck on money they do not know how to use. Many small business owners get less than they expected or heard nothing at all.
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What will school look like in September?
- It is unlikely that many schools will return to a regular schedule this fall, requiring the grinding of online learning, easy childcare and stunted workdays to continue. The two largest public school districts of California – Los Angeles and San Diego – said on July 13 that instruction will be remote only in the fall, citing concerns that growing coronavirus infections in their areas pose too great a risk to students and teachers. Together, the two districts enroll about 825,000 students. They are the largest in the country to date to abandon plans for even a partial physical return to classes when they reopen in August. For other districts, the solution will not be an all-or-nothing approach. Many systems, including the nation’s largest, New York City, are creating hybrid plans that include some days attending classrooms and other days online. There is no national policy yet, so check regularly with your municipal school system to see what is happening in your municipality.
The leaders of other major parties also claimed that the level 3 blockade in Auckland, the country’s largest city, prevented campaign and would have made a free and fair election on the original date impossible.
Winston Peters, the Deputy Prime Minister and leader of the New Zealand First Party, Mrs Ardern’s coalition partner, said in a letter to Ms. Ardern said last week that until the alarm level in Auckland dropped, the “playing field was hopelessly compromised.”
The leader of the National Party, Judith Collins, has said she would prefer the elections to be postponed to next year, which requires the approval of 75 percent of the parliament.
On Monday, Ms Collins said the focus should be on determining what led to the current outbreak “so we can be sure it will not happen again.”
What the delay means for the prospects of Mrs Ardern and her party in the elections may depend on the changes of the virus.
In the announcement on Monday, Ms Ardern sought to portray the delay as an example of her willingness to listen to the public and make difficult decisions.
“Covid is the new normal world in the world,” she said. “Here in New Zealand, we work as hard as we can to make sure our new normal disrupts our lives as little as possible.”
