The National Party has had a positive week dealing with potential coalition partners in trying to form its new Government, while Labour is taking some deep internal looks to try and find a new leader following the resignation of Phil Goff.
3 News political reporter Rebecca Wright says the National Government will announce its partners by the end of the week, and believes they will be partnered up with the Maori Party, ACT and UnitedFuture – but says it will be “interesting” to see what happens with the Green Party.
In the Labour camp it is believed it will be one of three Davids who takes the reins; David Shearer, David Parker or David Cunliffe.
• Extended interview with David Parker
• Extended interview with David Shearer
• Extended interview with David Cunliffe
“David Cunliffe and David Parker are pretty evenly matched,” says Wright, “I’d personally be surprised if David Shearer came through, he’s just spent one term as an MP in Parliament and he’s unproven in the house, but he does have this fantastic, incomparable, CV when you compare him to the other two.”
Wright says despite Mr Shearer’s CV - which includes negotiating with Somalian warlords at gunpoint - he is a risk and has performed poorly in debates against the other two Davids, which would be a concern for the party as he’d have to match up against Prime Minister John Key if he won the party leadership.
Wright says it has been “interesting” to watch the three candidates shift tack this week as they attempt to present the leadership qualities they believe the public want.
The new leader will be chosen under the “exhaustive ballot” process – 34 members of the party each vote for their preferred candidate, and the one with the least votes is removed from the running – then the 34 members vote again with the winner becoming leader.
The process is also used for deputy leaders.
Click ‘view video’ to watch the full interview.
3 News