LEAVING THE MINORS: THE GREEN PARTY OF AOTEAROA NEW ZEALAND AND THE 2011 GENERAL ELECTION

Abstract

The Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand has emerged as a successful environmentally focused party with a solid base. The 2011 General Election represented a high-point for the party, distancing it from the other minor parties. This article explores examples of factors affecting the success of Green parties, and examines the strategy of the New Zealand Green Party prior to the 2011 election. The findings indicate that the party has developed stable support through the development of a consistent policy base and pragmatic approach to its role in parliament. This has allowed the Greens to establish a position following the 2011 election as the third party in New Zealand politics.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The author would like to thank the interviewees for generously sharing their time and experience. Thanks also to Rob Salmond and Martin von Randow for providing access to data used in the article. The article was strengthened by comments from Petra Mäkelä, Nicholas Huntington and two anonymous reviewers.

Notes

The countries were: Belgium; Bulgaria; Estonia; Finland; France; Georgia; Germany; Italy; Latvia; Lithuania; Romania; Slovakia; Slovenia; and Ukraine. Nine of the countries were democratising over the period, possibly pointing to the importance of weaker party cleavages in allowing Green success.

In a recent article Orr (2012) has found that the presence of ethnic differences limit opportunities for collaboration between environmental NGOs on areas of common concern.

Auers (2012) notes that the Latvian Green Party has been successful in being part of the governing coalition, but this has come at the expense of credibility, given the radical-right orientation of its partners.

A current Green MP notes that the strategy at the time was to choose ‘individuals who had almost a personal constituency, but non-overlapping constituencies to get us over the 5% threshold’ (Interview 13 June 2012).

These figures are calculated from the NZES and include respondents with either ‘degree’ or ‘postgraduate’ as their highest formal educational qualification.

It was argued by a former Green MP that the party was the last choice of coalition partner for Labour, as the party was interested in policies rather than the ‘baubles of office’ (Interview 22 June 2012).

Although the same interviewee noted that the National Party had subsequently violated significant parts of the agreement (Interview former Green MP 22 June 2012).

The change in leadership was complicated by Norman's position as co-leader outside Parliament (elected 2008), requiring careful management to ensure the party continued to operate effectively.

A specialist in New Zealand politics made the point that the other parties have not yet undergone similar generational change (Email correspondence 18 June 2012).

A former Green MP captured the change by stating ‘we’re not treated like the minnows anymore' (Interview 22 June 2012).

In its decision on broadcast funding allocations the Electoral Commission noted that ‘Over a significant period the Green Party, in terms of numbers of MPs and polling data, was clearly in a separate category [from the minor parties] in the time and money allocation compared with all other parties’ (Electoral Commission 2011: 7).

Commenting on a draft of this article, a Green Party member noted ‘that it always was about the economy, and quality of life, as well as the environment. … It may not always have been perceived in this way, by outsiders, and Green politics isn't always practised that way, by insiders’ (Email correspondence 8 July 2012).

Figure 2 is adapted from the pundit.co.nz ‘Poll of Polls’ using data supplied by Rob Salmond. For a discussion of the ‘Poll of Polls’ methodology, see Jackman (2005). ‘Minor parties’ includes the five parties that gained representation in parliament following the 2011 election.

The party has adopted a strategy (re-evaluated before each election) to focus on list seats to maximise the use of its resources (Interview with Green MP 13 June 2012).

These changes were recommended in the Electoral Commission's (2012) Proposal Paper released for consultation in August 2012. The paper also noted that the growth in the number of electorate seats, at the expense of list seats, needs to be addressed by parliament.

Labour clearly recognise the threat posed by the Green Party, as Labour leader (David Shearer) gave a speech to a farming group, saying that he hoped they had eaten their greens, because that is what Labour intended to do (Interview with Green party member 3 July 2012).