2020 elections: Judith Collins clarifies ‘strategic’ vote to avoid Greens in government

National leader Judith Collins is urging her supporters to vote National if they want to be strategic and avoid a “far left” government that includes the Green Party.

He made the remarks this morning after last night’s poll that showed Labor, while still at the top with 47 percent support, could not rule alone.

This morning Greens co-leader James Shaw spoke this morning about the Greens, who were at 7 percent, being part of a Labor-Green government.

“One of the things that we hear from people, in the campaign, is that they want to make sure that the Labor Party has to talk to someone and not just be able to make those decisions themselves,” he told RNZ.

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The numbers have raised the possibility of national voters flagging Labor in an effort to keep the Greens out, but Collins told his supporters to check the blue box twice.

“That is the best strategic vote, except at Epsom,” he told reporters in Auckland this morning.

He said National, which was up 2 percent in the poll compared to last week, was on the rise. The law also rose 1 point to 8 percent.

“The center right is going up and the center left and the far left are going down,” Collins said.

“People should always understand that most New Zealanders do not want a far-left government dictated by people who think taxes are love.”

Ardern has countered Collins’ claim that a government with the Greens was a terrifying prospect by saying that a government with the Act was more terrifying.

Collins dismissed this, but said a nationally led government would not implement the Act’s flat tax or cut the minimum wage.

She did not say whether she would pay back the interest on student loans, but said she was focused on how to grow the economy.

Nor had he looked at the Act party list to see who else could be part of a National Act bloc.

“I am focused on the National party, the national votes. I don’t worry too much about the minor parties.”

On Saturday, Shaw urged left-wing supporters to vote for the Green Party as the best way to ensure that Jacinda Ardern is Prime Minister after October 17.

It was a call for a strategic vote to ensure that the center-left bloc is larger than the center-right. If the Greens did not return to Parliament, he would see hundreds of thousands of left votes wasted.

This morning, Shaw would not be drawn to what the Greens would want, including the role of deputy prime minister, to support a Labor-led government.

“It depends on the numbers, it depends on the form of the agreement that we have, it depends on the extent to which we think it can help us advance the work program that we have.”

Ardern played down questions about whether Shaw or Marama Davidson could be deputy prime minister in a Labor-green government.

He was not going to enter into any potential coalition negotiations before the elections.

Meanwhile, Collins said he had confidence in National’s Auckland Central candidate Emma Mellow, who lagged behind in a recent poll by more than 15 percent.

“You have to remember that in politics, as in everything else, you never give up,” Collins said.

When asked about his comments yesterday about Nicky Hager’s need to meet his creator, Collins said he did not mean that he wished him dead.

“But I know that we will all die one day.”