Wellington
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has deferred the country’s general election to October 17 as Auckland remains in lockdown due to the Covid outbreak.
Ardern bowed to pressure to delay the poll after parties complained they could not campaign with nearly a third of New Zealand’s 5 million people under lockdown in Auckland.
“Ultimately, the 17th of October … provides sufficient time for parties to plan around the range of circumstances we will be campaigning under,” Ardern said at a news conference.
The Prime Minister ruled out delaying the poll any further as her Labour Party maintains a strong lead over the conservative National Party in opinion poll.
“We are all in the same boat. We are all campaigning in the same environment,” Ardern said.
New Zealand on Monday recorded nine new cases, taking the number of active cases to 78.
There have now been a total of 1,280 cases in the country and 22 deaths.
An earlier election would have worked in Ardern’s favour as her success in stifling Covid-19 and keeping the country virus-free for 102 days until the latest outbreak had boosted her popularity.
The election was scheduled for September 19 and
New Zealand law requires it to be held by November 21. Advance voting will now start on October 3. Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, who had called for a delay, said “common sense has prevailed”.
The Election Commission said it was ready to hold a vote with health measures, including hand sanitiser and physical distancing at voting centres, protective gear for staff and contact-tracing systems.
“These are challenging times for everyone, but we will have measures in place so that people can vote in person at a voting place this October,” Chief Electoral Officer Alicia Wright said.— Reuters