A fair, if depressing, summary

"The last National Party campaign leaflet ... urged me to 'Please party vote National.' Unlike the bold promise of 'A Brighter Future' ... National's message [this time] looked like more like a plea for help than a call to arms.

    "In a way, it summed up the whole election campaign. None of the parties [apart from the only-party-based-on-race] has offered anything substantially different from what is already happening. The election campaign has been far less a contest of ideas, than one of which grouping of parties dislike each other least but think they can manage the status quo best.
    "Labour’s campaign has focused almost entirely on what a National/ACT government might do. Its own achievements over six years in government have been barely mentioned. ... National’s campaign has fluctuated from the quiet confidence of a party being a government-in-waiting two or three weeks ago ... to something far more hesitant after the own goal regarding New Zealand First. ...
    "So, at the end of the campaign it looks like coming down to this. Labour wants your vote to keep National, ACT and New Zealand First out. ... National just wants to be back in power and will do 'whatever it takes' to get there."

~ Peter Dunne, from his post 'Thursday, 12 October 2023'