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Jacinda Ardern has defended her decision to keep her vote for cannabis a secret before the election.
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The Prime Minister said that she had decided her position at the beginning of the referendum.
Preliminary results published yesterday indicate that the recreational cannabis referendum has failed, with a result of 53.1% against and 46.1% in favor.
This means that if the final vote is reflected in the official results, recreational cannabis would remain illegal; however, the official results will be released on November 6, which would include special votes estimated to represent 17 percent of the total vote. .
Regarding his ‘yes’ vote in the cannabis referendum, Ardern said he had weighed his views.
“Look, as I have said since I became a deputy, two issues that I have always wanted to weigh: one is not wanting to see people imprisoned for personal possession but at the same time I have always been concerned about young people access.
“I weighed these issues and voted in favor.
“However, I wanted all New Zealanders to weigh these issues regardless of my point of view. That was something I set out to do, I think early in the year, and I kept it.
He rejected a journalist’s question that he did not have “the courage of his convictions” on the subject.
“First of all, I reject it, allowing New Zealanders to make their own decisions is something other than allowing people the old freedom of their point of view.
“And I took that position at the beginning of the year that that’s what I would do in the referendum.”
Ardern said the Labor Party “does not” have a position on the issue.
“I am the Labor leader, I took my vote as a personal vote in the way that many other New Zealanders did.”
“There have been issues where I have taken very strong positions on things that are quite personal.”
“Euthanasia, I have always been constant. The abortion law, I not only took a position, I persecuted it and changed the law in Parliament.
“This time around, I wanted New Zealanders to decide.”
