This will take the form of a number of bullet-points, to get my ideas 'on the rung' before they become hopelessly outdated...
*Quite apart from my (conservatively assessed) electorate seat (number) predictions upon the election's eve, which were so close to most opinion poll results as to be rather lame and to my mind tiresomely predictable, what I did in particular get way off/out - probably like most other observers, however, truth be told - was my very strong sense/conviction that however (1)incredibly well the Labour Party in particular did in the bigger cities (and somewhat lesser so in the larger provincial towns and small cities), they'd be absolutely wiped out in the rural districts, to the extent that National and Act would garner 60 and 15/20 % respectively and Labour and the Greens but 20% between them, Labour's share but 15% ...
But as we all now well know, my predictions - like those of the commentariat generally - were way off the mark, even 'missing' the extent of Labour's landslide victory altogether, though truth be told many earlier assessments held strongly to this very possibility (if not likelihood)...
*As to thy other 'raw data' aspects of the result, I'll leave that for the time being, except to note 'how [verily] the mighty have fallen', from 'the Right Honourable' (2)Winston Peters through to (one-time Earthquake Recovery Minister) Gerry Brownlee through to longstanding Nelson M.P. (and ofttimes Conservation/Environment Minister) Nick Smith...
*The graciousness of (some) such longstanding MPs going personally to their winning opponents' victory parties, whilst
*In the minutes preceding the Prime Minister's 'Acceptance Speech' we also witnessed the extremely ungracious speech of Labour's (3)deputy leader Kelvin Davis...
...itself exceeded, were that possible, in overbearingness (and sheer insufferability) anyhow, by Tova O'Brien's all too typical determination to make the messenger become the message, the journo with bad attitude in spades, and only too willing to display the same, however hilariously ridiculous...
...whilst her Newshub Nation colleague Paddy Gower gave us side-splitting hysterics as per usual with his ape-like physical antics and prowess as the countdown went quite literally down-to-the-very-wire in the Maori electorate of Waiariki, and ultimately (naturally, pending specials) was won by the Maori Party.
*But due kudos - with knobs on - to the outstandingly and relentlessly positive Chloe Swarbruck, who wrested the highly contested and contestable seat of Auckland Central with the sort of door-to-door campaigning that would've made Yours Truly proud back during his own run in 2008...
(1) Yet - and admittedly I've hardly had the time or leisure to thus far dissect the myriad details of electoral results at large - why, when Labour was handily winning rural electorates of such a blue hue as Rangitata, they only gained 48-49% of votes overall, is utterly beyond me...as it seemed to me, prior to the election admittedly, that were they to be thrashed in ruraldom, garnering only 15-20% of the votes there (as outlined above), yet with their 40 percent-some in provincial New Zealand, and their 60%-some in the larger cities, they'd easily gain 50% plus...
...so, when on election night they bested National so convincingly in rural NZ, it seemed to me they ought to be obtaining 55-60% of votes overall, so something's awry somewhere surely...
(2) No sooner was the ouster of Peters and his (longstanding phoenix-from-the-ashes) party officially confirmed beyond a shadow of a doubt than the vultures immediately started circling, sensing blood aplenty in his particular vicinity, and thus and so we had the unholy and unedifying scenario not even a day on of shadowy journalistic paparazzi stalking him and his partner as they tried in vain to elude their erstwhile pursuers; generous recompense no doubt for someone who - love 'im or loathe 'im - has unquestionably given more personal service (at least quantitatively-speaking), baubles of office notwithstanding, to NZ Inc over a lifetime political career than any other politician over the past half-century...
(3) Someone whose removal (for this and other reasons) was vigorously and vociferously opposed on Sunday's Newshub Nation by former (NZ First/Mauri/National) M.P. and now professional political commentator Tau Henare, Henare urging Labour's Maori caucus to rebel if Davis' removal was actioned.
Postscript:
It seems to me anyway, someone incidentally 'for the record' who's twice voted their way (and twice been strongly tempted to), that New Zealand First made two fundamental errors going into this election: failing to highlight the unpopular policies they effectively blocked; and likewise failing to highlight their many and various successful 'runs on the board'...
...instead as it so transpired flailing about in last-minute, last-ditch efforts to distance themselves from and severely criticize the Government that they more than any other party played such a significant role in shaping, whether ultimately for good or ill...
... a thing that was simply too far a stretch for your average voter to fall for and not see through...
They'd have stood a far greater chance of at least crossing the MMP threshold and returning to Parliament, where, like the Green Party, - if not an actual part (and parcel) of the new Labour Government - they could at least and indeed have 'rule[d] from the cross-benches' (since their centrist philosophy has ever been far more appealing to the average kiwi than that of the Greens)...
Yes, they could and should have highlighted the 'stuff' Labour promoted/wished to achieve, which they prevented, such as
*Repealing the Three Strikes and You're Out' law;
*the Capital Gains Tax
etcetera (I simply can't remember any others at present, but I know there are aplenty)...whilst
highlighting all the policy successes they helped bring about,
whatever those were (and indeed there were a number, but I'm afraid my memory has failed again, and I must go and attend to the rest of my life, and ipso pronto!)
To Be Continued (somewhere awhile down the line)...
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