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CAMPAIGN JOURNAL: Can the Greens create a stir when half a million voters head to the polls?
Talking about facing electoral oblivion is never far away, yet the Greens have been quietly confident in recent weeks. That said, party co-leader James Shaw is aware of his party’s election night record.
A week after the 2017 elections, the Greens obtained 7% or more, and then took home 6.3% of the votes, a pattern also seen in previous elections. Shaw acknowledged on Friday that the party could be in a more comfortable position, after the party fell one percentage point to 6 percent.
Hannah Peters / Getty Images
Green Party co-leader James Shaw and Auckland Central candidate Chlöe Swarbrick visit For the Love of Bees Community Garden on Friday in Auckland, New Zealand.
More than half a million people have already cast their vote, nearly a quarter of the total number of votes in 2017, and Green’s strategy now is to get his voters to join the swarm.
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To this end, Shaw was in Auckland Central on Friday with the party’s high-profile electorate candidate Chlöe Swarbrick to meet with an urban agriculture and beekeeping group called For the Love of Bees.
The group helps run a 310 square meter vegetable farm in the center of town on Mt Eden’s Symonds St, which feeds 35 families who pay a subscription fee for the produce.
Shaw was there to announce the party’s promise to create a disputable $ 10 million fund for urban farms, part of the planned $ 297 million “Farming for the Future” fund to propel the agricultural sector toward regenerative agriculture.
“In fact, $ 10 million goes a long way with things like this, and it’s a sector that is only really kicking in in New Zealand,” Shaw said.
It remains to be seen whether such a policy would be a “bottom line” brought to the negotiating table. In recent days, Shaw has been unwilling to speculate on what might be sought in any Labor-Green coalition, or whether he would seek the post of deputy prime minister.
Hannah Peters / Getty Images
Green Party co-leader James Shaw and Auckland Central Green Party candidate Chlöe Swarbrick speak with urban farmers in Auckland on Friday.
Shaw’s message to the voters, within eight days, is divided into three parts: a Labor-Green Government is the “most likely outcome” of the elections; a Labor majority government is a “real risk”; and the Greens could slide below the 5 percent threshold.
It is a mixed message of confidence, fear and crisis.
“The poll shows … a Labor-green government as the most likely outcome of the election,” Shaw said.
“Six percent is not a comfortable place to be.
“We know we have to get all the votes we can, there is a risk that we will fall below the 5 percent threshold. And that means that I would run the real risk that one of the parties has all the power. “
Swarbrick has been touted as a possible backup for the Greens, provided he can win the Auckland Central seat.
Hannah Peters / Getty Images
Green Party co-leader James Shaw and Auckland Central candidate Chlöe Swarbrick stand in front of a billboard for Swarbrick’s campaign on Friday. No green candidate made it to the day’s campaign stop on a motorcycle.
She continues to seek the electorate’s vote, although the prospect of success seemed more remote as National Party candidate Emma Mellow gained ground over Labor Helen White in the most recent poll for the seat.
And another variable at stake: There is a chance that Labor leader Jacinda Ardern could win the Nobel Peace Prize on Friday night.
“I mean, it’s hard to believe that the prime minister could become more popular. But we will have to wait to see, ”Shaw said.
