
Zach Castles: Meet the conservative who could become New Zealand’s first Maori Prime Minister
Polling well, more than financially buoyant and administratively competent and unified, the National Party is in a strong position.
Polling well, more than financially buoyant and administratively competent and unified, the National Party is in a strong position.
Voters habitually opt for parties of the Right when times are tough, only to ditch them for the Left once there’s money to spare. But now populists seek to break the cycle.
It has been dispatched by one man – New Zealand First’s party leader, Winston Peters, who has Labour’s inexperienced leader in his pocket.
A solid but unspectacular centre-right Prime Minister, with a good economic record, is trying to fight off a charismatic, high-spending challenge from the left.