It’s a question that many are
asking and the answer is relevant to Whangarei.
Barry says, “It's the same reason why one of the country's most revered mayors in recent years, Dame Kerry Prendergast, lost her nine-year grip on the city's mayoralty to another unfathomable choice, Celia Wade-Brown. It's not because both Whanau and Wade-Brown are Greens and it's not because both of them love cycleways, despite vocal ratepayer opposition to the amount of money being spent on Wellington cycleways. It's because of the single transferrable voting system (STV) that saw them winning against all odds. It's the system where you vote for candidates on a preferential system, where once a quota's been reached for a candidate, they drop out and the votes for the second preference kicks in - and so on until a winner is found.”
The Green Party favours STV
because Labour Party voters usually give their second preference vote to the
Greens and vice-versa.
That’s an ominous sign for
Whangarei. Last year greenie Cr Connop successfully moved a motion to change
the voting system from First Past the Post (FPP) to STV. The change was made
without notice or any community engagement. Those who voted for the change
were: Crs Connop, Couper, Harding, Holmes, McKenzie, Ruka, and Peters.
In 2022 just 12 of the 66
councils that held elections used STV. Fifty-four used FPP.
Barry Soper: https://breakingviewsnz.blogspot.com/2024/10/barry-soper-how-did-tory-whanau-get.html
