"The trouble with these deals is they put the interests of parties ahead of the interests of voters".

What's new John?

Of course you don't mention the fact that the Greens are encouraging their members to vote for the Labour guy in Ohariu. Neither do you mention that Labour have spent years encouraging their members to vote for Jim Anderton in Wigram.

Also, big insult, John, to the people of Epsom, calling them chumps. You are really showing your bile there.

This is an excellent argument for why Supplementary Member is better than MMP.

Yes - nothing new: Wigram / Jim Ander­ton and Tauranga / Win­ston Peters.

Typically and shamefully it's power parties are after, not principles.

did the greens not agree with labour to not stand a candidate in Ohariu? this fails to gain a mention......

also is this not in the interest of voters who may support more than one party? or those voters who want the party they vote for to have support in government??

you have used a very large brush John!

National are idiots for even considering going into coalition with Dunne, and even worse, Banks and Brash. The future of New Zealand would be better off without these two parties because National have the best opportunity to govern alone.

Can I suggest a different interpretation? Obviously the main thing that National doesn't want is right wing votes to be 'wasted' on a party that gets no seats, but really they want all those voters back in the fold. Thus they endorse two of their least credible former MPs to stage a takeover of the Act party and lead it either back into National or into oblivion; either is fine. I agree that National's manipulation of MMP is machiavellian, but that too fits their purpose. They are keen to make MMP look bad; using it to promote the Act zombie works very well. Like asset sales and slashing government services, this is a test of how far they can afford to go with their majority support. They need to be reprimanded through the polls, but so far it isn't happening.

I struggle to see how this is an article?! It seems more a rant against the right...

Also isn't the Green Candidate Hughes only campaigning for the party vote and backing Labour's Chauvel in the Constituency? No mention of this... A bit hypocritical really?!

Come on John, this is utterly ridiculous. You're right back to the cheap shots you started with, and completely unworthy of a political column. I could write a better left-supporting blog, and I'm about mid-right.

Labour and the Greens are doing the exact same deal in Ohariu-Belmont, which you have conveniently neglected to mention at all.

"when he just managed to hold on to his seat in a three-way split. That still left a majority of people who don't want him" There are plenty of electorate seats that are won by candidates with less than half the electorate vote John. The crucial point is that they had more electorate votes than the other candidates in that electorate. That's how electorate majorities work. That's how our system of democracy works. If you don't like it, vote against MMP.

And the cheap shot at the Epsom voters is just pathetic. They're the most influential electorate in the country, by having the intelligence to use MMP wisely - they're the Richie McCaw of NZ politics, playing the rules better than everyone else. Tell me where the left has an electorate that have the intelligence to do the same? They don't, unless you're going to start counting Te Tai Tokerau.

Here's a prediction for you - a goodly increase in United Future's party vote, as centre, swing, and some right voters look for a realistic, viable alternative with sensible policy. Many disillusioned with both major parties will turn to them, along with many who may have otherwise voted for ACT or NZ First. For solid centrist policy minded voters, Peter Dunne is actually some way ahead of everyone else at the moment.

A very very good reason for getting rid of MMP and going back to 1st past the post. Political hacks and has beens who couldn't win a seat on their own merits indulging in deals that the voters have no say in.Carpetbaggers and pork barrel politics at its very best. Power at any price! This is the sort of thing we expect from Zimbabwe or happened in the 3rd Reich and the USSR.