I can't believe that your local DEMOCRACY reporter did a story on the AK mayoralty elections and left out the biggest point about it ... NO ONE GIVES A SHIT!!
In 2019 AK had had a 35% local election turnout. Lowest city vote in NZ.
So how can you write a story about the mayor's race without acknowledging that people in AK overwhelmingly do NOT take part.
Whoever wins will NOT have a democratic mandate due to 2/3 of voters not taking part.
Voting in AK has declined since the unitary city was established.
In NZ as a whole we have NOT had a 50% turnout in local elections for over 30 years.
No one asks why.
That is the story anyone interested in democracy should be talking about.
AK voting is still FPTP!! It should be STV at least.
Sweden in 2018 had an 84% turnout in their local election - higher than we get in our national elections.
They have a good local democracy and they believe in it and they DO take part.
We have a shit local democracy and we don't believe in it or the politicians who benefit from it and we DON'T take part.
While following up you can ask why women make up about 20% of elected local body government politicians (last time I looked) and no one asks why or suggests solutions.
And also ask why umpteen years after it became an option, about 80%+ of NZ local body governments are still using FPTP voting despite having the ability to switch to STV. Could also ask why Labour, supposedly progressive, just doesn't make it mandatory?
And you could ask why local body government in NZ is so weak in NZ compared with our peers in Europe? And as a result we have a massively centralised government in Wellington.
But then this is NZ where we are such a nation of wankers that we don't question pathetic single sex schools or the fact that we have an un-elected head of state who lives in the UK and a 2 tier health system etc etc.
Finland does not have this shite AND (surprise) they have really good local government.
Their democracy works and ours ... well it just reflects the mediocre, backward looking people we have become.
A huge number of people here are been crushed by the cost of life in NZ and all they get are lectures on Te Reo and The Treaty and cycleways and the environment etc .
If I was in National or ACT I would also want people talking about these things ALL the time - because they do NOT threaten the economic dominance my 'tribe' has over NZ.
But folks need to EAT and a place to LIVE.
And below are 2 contrasting tales that just show how useless NZ has become at delivering for it's people. We did this to ourselves.
I can't believe that your local DEMOCRACY reporter did a story on the AK mayoralty elections and left out the biggest point about it ... NO ONE GIVES A SHIT!!
In 2019 AK had had a 35% local election turnout. Lowest city vote in NZ.
So how can you write a story about the mayor's race without acknowledging that people in AK overwhelmingly do NOT take part.
Whoever wins will NOT have a democratic mandate due to 2/3 of voters not taking part.
Voting in AK has declined since the unitary city was established.
In NZ as a whole we have NOT had a 50% turnout in local elections for over 30 years.
No one asks why.
That is the story anyone interested in democracy should be talking about.
AK voting is still FPTP!! It should be STV at least.
Sweden in 2018 had an 84% turnout in their local election - higher than we get in our national elections.
They have a good local democracy and they believe in it and they DO take part.
We have a shit local democracy and we don't believe in it or the politicians who benefit from it and we DON'T take part.
And Maori wards won't fix any of this.
That is the story.
Thanks for this Brendon, and thanks for reading. That's a great tip and we'll be following this up in a future story. -Chris
While following up you can ask why women make up about 20% of elected local body government politicians (last time I looked) and no one asks why or suggests solutions.
And also ask why umpteen years after it became an option, about 80%+ of NZ local body governments are still using FPTP voting despite having the ability to switch to STV. Could also ask why Labour, supposedly progressive, just doesn't make it mandatory?
And you could ask why local body government in NZ is so weak in NZ compared with our peers in Europe? And as a result we have a massively centralised government in Wellington.
But then this is NZ where we are such a nation of wankers that we don't question pathetic single sex schools or the fact that we have an un-elected head of state who lives in the UK and a 2 tier health system etc etc.
Finland does not have this shite AND (surprise) they have really good local government.
Their democracy works and ours ... well it just reflects the mediocre, backward looking people we have become.
A huge number of people here are been crushed by the cost of life in NZ and all they get are lectures on Te Reo and The Treaty and cycleways and the environment etc .
If I was in National or ACT I would also want people talking about these things ALL the time - because they do NOT threaten the economic dominance my 'tribe' has over NZ.
But folks need to EAT and a place to LIVE.
And below are 2 contrasting tales that just show how useless NZ has become at delivering for it's people. We did this to ourselves.
NZ:
Home ownership dream 'gone' for Porirua renter
https://www.1news.co.nz/2022/01/31/home-ownership-dream-gone-for-porirua-renter/
Finland:
A quick guide to leasing and purchasing residential plots from the City of Helsinki
https://www.hel.fi/static/liitteet/kaupunkiymparisto/julkaisut/esitteet/residential-plots-guide.pdf