Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers

My Dear Princess and Dear Fellows,

I've been getting election fever. Gearing up for my first-ever NZ general election in which I can vote. 

You may remember that I arrived shortly after the last election so missed out on all the excitement. Although that election was much closer than this one looks like it is about to be. 

The Kiwi general public have been approving of Labour's handling of covid and it appears that every attempt of the National party to pour cold water on this has failed. 

I was reading online today that they've been complaining about mixed messages and confusion from the government on the latest warnings. But this has been brushed aside by Jacinda, making them look a bit silly.

At the moment, the coalition government is led by Labour and consists of Labour, the Greens (environmental party) and NZ First (Winston Peters vanity party). According to polls, Jacinda will be able to ditch both her pals and run a fully Labour government, if all goes according to plan. 

NZ First will probably end up kicked out of parliament altogether and the Greens might JUST scrape in. 

The issue is the voting system which is Mixed Member Proportional Representation or MMPR (or just MMP). I just googled MMPR and got loads of Power Rangers hits. 

I get two votes. One for the local MP and one for the party I like best. I thought we were in a National area, but as it turns out I was wrong. Two streets away is a National constituency, but our little house falls just into a safe Labour one. So I guess I'm voting for the Labour candidate.

But I'll also vote Green for party in the hope it pushes them over the 5% threshold they need to get into parliament. 

Also, I think it would be interesting to have a Green Power Ranger in the Beehive. Some may say I'm a dreamer. But I'm not the only one.

This election is combined with a couple of referendum votes. But don't worry. Nothing silly like: "Do you think that Britain should remain in the European Union or give millions of pounds to mates of Dominic Cummings?" 

The two referenda are on:

- Legalisation of marijuana
- Legalisation of euthanasia

Apparently euthanasia is likely to pass, but the marijuana one is more of an even split in the polls. I'll probably vote for it, but doubt it will make any difference to me. The only herbs growing in our back yard will be thyme, valerian and catnip. 

But. Just saying. If any of you make it over here for a holiday one day, I'll be sure to make brownies to welcome you with.

S.