Editorial: Voter apathy makes farce of democracy

OPINION: It is tempting at times to think that democracy is wasted on New Zealanders.

United States president Abraham Lincoln once defined this special form of government as "government of the people, by the people, for the people" but in this country, democracy sometimes bears no more than a passing resemblance to that description because "the people" refuse to play their important part in the process.

Last week, the Electoral Enrolment Centre issued research showing that two of out three Kiwis do not know when this year's local government elections are due – it's October – and one in three does not know how to cast a vote (psst, it's via postal ballot).

Murray Wicks, national manager of the centre, sounded exasperated: "The level of ignorance ... is incredible". He is right.

New Zealanders have turning moaning into a blood sport. But when it is time to do something about whatever has got their goat, they revert to apathy, and then moan again later when what they term a vocal minority wins the day.

Mr Wicks' frustration is understandable. What more must the centre – and those who care about civil society – do to get New Zealanders to take an interest in a system of government that people in other countries, such as Iran, are prepared to die to win? Seldom has the aphorism "familiarity breeds contempt" seemed so apposite.

The election for Auckland's new super-city council has breathed some life into politics in that metropolis. Last year, it dawned on people – many of whom won't have bothered voting for years – that Local Government Minister Rodney Hide was serious when he said that Manukau, Waitakere, North Shore and some smaller councils would be scrapped and replaced by a behemoth.

The race for the mayor, a job that will rival in influence those held by cabinet ministers, is hotting up, with contenders including the predictable, such as John Banks and Len Brown, as well as fringe-dwellers such as Andrew Williams and actor Simon Prast.

Mr Prast, it turns out, is not the only would-be politician to publicly reveal he has used the pernicious and highly addictive drug P. In Wellington, drug protester, Supreme Court clamberer and mayoral candidate Al Mansell has revealed that his drug of choice is heroin, something of which those who do bother to return their voting papers should probably be aware.

Earlier this year, it looked for a bit as if the fight for the mayoral chains in the capital, too, would be spiced up when Sir Robert Jones announced he would field a slate of top-rate candidates, including one for mayor.

Little has been heard since, rumour having it that he cannot find anyone suitable to stand against four-time contender and incumbent Kerry Prendergast.

So if the Wellington mayoralty is again to be a one-horse race, what will it take to get its residents and ratepayers to take an interest, fill in their postal voting forms, and return them in time for the official count?

Our forebears – those who died in foreign wars to keep the West free from tryanny – must despair at their descendants' indifference.

- © Fairfax NZ News