Wellington, New Zealand – Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has delayed elections in New Zealand by 4 weeks due to the coronavirus outbreak in Auckland.
Elections scheduled for September 19 will now take place on October 17. Opposition parties had called for a suspension after the virus outbreak led the government last week to put Auckland under a two-week blockade and stop the election campaign.
Before the last outbreak, New Zealand had gone 102 days without known network transmission of the virus, and life had returned to normal for most people, with open restaurants and schools and sports enthusiasts returning to the stadiums. The only known cases at this time were returnees who were quarantined at the border.
Authorities have reintroduced the virus to New Zealand from abroad, but have not yet decided how. The outbreak in the country’s largest city has increased to 58 infections, all considered linked, giving fitness officials hope that the virus will not spread beyond the group.
Ardern had the choice for about two months. He said he had called the leaders of all political parties represented in parliament to know his views before taking his resolution on Monday.
“Ultimately, I want to make sure that we have a well-organized election that gives the entire electorate the opportunity to receive all the data they want about parties and candidates, and provide certainty for the future,” Ardern said.
She said she wouldn’t delay the election, no matter what happened in the course of a virus outbreak.
“COVID continues to disrupt life in the world,” Ardern said. Other countries, besides South Korea and Singapore, nonetheless controlled the pandemic for elections, he added.
Ardern also announced that lawmakers would be called to parliament, which had finished meeting before the election. Parliament will continue to operate until early September.
Conservative opposition leader Judith Collins didn’t give much opinion on the delay, and only said her national party “recognizes the new date, while saying there had been a border check.
But small opposition ACT welcomed the delay. Chief David Seymour said the new outbreak had already forced him to cancel a dozen events, adding discussions and network meetings.
“To have free and fair elections, applicants will have to be online listening to voters and this is not imaginable as long as Auckland’s inhabitants are confined to their homes,” he said in a statement.
This delay will create logistical problems, adding adjustments to the reserve of polling stations and ensuring that the thousands of voting staff required for voting will be available until the new date. Ardern said he thought there was enough time to organize everything.
An opinion vote indicates that the Liberal Labour Party of Ardern is being favored for a moment. The party’s popularity has increased dramatically since the pandemic, with Ardern earning foreign praise for treating the crisis.