WELLINGTON, New Zealand – The Prime Minister has postponed the country’s general election on Monday to a month until October 17, as the city of Auckland remains in lockdown due to a new coronavirus outbreak.
Jacinda Ardern has been under pressure to cancel the polls because political parties said it was impossible to campaign in a way that would ensure a free and fair election.
“Finally, October 17th … provides enough time for parties to plan on the scope of circumstances in which we will be campaigning,” Ardern said at a news conference.
She advised against delaying the polls further, as her Labor Party maintains a strong lead over the Conservative National Party in opinion polls.
“We’re all in the same boat. We’re all campaigning in the same environment,” Ardern said.
An early election works in Ardern’s favor, as its success in COVID-19 has tarnished and kept the country virus-free for 102 days until the latest outbreak boosted its popularity.
The election was scheduled for Sept. 19. And New Zealand law requires that it be held by 21 November. Before voting will now begin on October 3rd.
Vice President Winston Peters, who had called for a delay, said “common sense has prevailed.”
The leader of the populist New Zealand First Party delivered government to Labor through a coalition deal after no party won a majority in the 2017 elections.
Ardern’s opponents accuse her of using the pandemic for coastal support, as she appears on television almost every day to trust New Zealanders, while other party leaders struggle to get attention.
Her rivals hope that Ardern loses some of her profession once the economic difficulties caused by the lockdown begin to bite.
With a population of 5 million, New Zealand has fared much better in the pandemic than most countries. But an abrupt resumption of COVID-19 last week in Auckland called for a lockdown, and there is growing suspicion that the source of the spread was a quarantine facility.
On Friday, Ardern extended a lockdown for the 1.7 million residents of Auckland until August 26, and social distance rules are in place in other cities and towns. There are 69 active cases in the country.
“Right now, the focus should be on figuring out just what failed so catastrophically at the border so we can be sure it will not happen again,” Judith Collins, faction leader of the National Party, said on Twitter.
