If National or Act lose 1 seat in the specials, they’ll no longer have a majority and will need the support of NZF to govern.
If National or Act lose 1 seat in the specials, they’ll no longer have a majority and will need the support of NZF to govern.
Will having NZ First in the coalition help to reduce the damage Act can do?
This is the biggest question I feel. Act has ruled out working with NZF. People thought Labour got nothing done last term, but just wait until NZF and Act are stamping their feet and refusing to work with the other. We might just see a not a lot get done except their common ground, eliminating wokeness (whatever that means).
Yes, it potentially could soften the National/Act policies in some areas. Act have some pretty extreme positions, and Luxon will have to work hard to placate them. In some ways it’ll make it easier for him to have NZF there as a reason he can’t give Act everything they want.
It is also possible that it will create quite an unstable government, and they won’t be able to last the full 3 year term. That said, people said that about the Labour/NZF/Green government in 2017. NZF did wield quite a bit of power throughout that term, blocking several policies. But there was enough common ground that disagreements didn’t break the coalition apart completely.