New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delays election over Covid-19

[madville]

Source: CNN

Auckland (CNN)New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern says she is delaying the country's parliamentary election by four weeks to October 17 after the reemergence of Covid-19 in the country last week.

The announcement on Tuesday that locally acquired cases of coronavirus had been confirmed in the New Zealand's biggest city, Auckland, prompted the government to introduce strict level three lockdown measures on August 12. This comes after around 100 days without community spread.

The rest of the country was put into level two lockdown, with both lockdown periods extended until at least August 26 as further cases of coronavirus were confirmed.

The general election was due to take place on September 19, with Parliament rising on August 6 and campaigning had already begun before the lockdowns were introduced.

Read more: https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/16/asia/new-zealand-election-delay-coronavrius/index.html

[Arazi]

1. Very bad precedent. Shudder to think how #Traitor will use this

[Blue_true]

2. Her country's "Constitution" likely allows election delays for cause.

Our Constitution sets a specific day in a specific month. Trump would need to get the Supreme Court to go along with a delay, I don’t believe that Roberts, at a minimum, among conservatives would be ok with that, and Gorsuch would likely bolt Trump on that issue also, since he is a textualist and the text that defines when the election must be held is pretty clear.

[caraher]

3. I think you're both right

It's both A-OK for her to do this - they have a different system... and if Trump sees an advantage in citing her move despite our very different election rules, he will.

I'm not sure whether or not its an advantage that most MAGAts are entirely obvlivious to anything that happens outside our borders, beyond being told whom to hate and be afraid of.

[LisaL]

7. Trump can't cancel the election.

[C Moon]

13. And he knows (the GOP knows), otherwise, they wouldn't be so desperate to destroy the USPS.

[melm00se]

16. Actually the date of the election is established by Congress

What the Constitution does say about federal elections is:

Article I, section 2:

The House of Representatives shall be composed of members chosen every second year by the people of the several states...

Article I, section 3

The Senate of the United States shall be composed of two Senators from each state, chosen by the legislature thereof*, for six years...

* this was changed by the 17th Amendment to election by popular vote.

Article 2, section 1

He shall hold his office during the term of four years, and, together with the Vice President, chosen for the same term, be elected...

All the other dates set for federal elections are established by Congress:

3 U.S. Code § 1 - sets the date for the Presidential election.

The electors of President and Vice President shall be appointed, in each State, on the Tuesday next after the first Monday in November, in every fourth year succeeding every election of a President and Vice President.

2 U.S. Code § 1 & 2 U.S. Code § 7 cover the election of Senators and Representatives respectively.

The remainder of the dates covering the presidential election process are established by legislation too.

[Blue_true]

18. I stand corrected. I must have read the part about Electors and

took that as a constitutional mandate of when a presidential election must be held. Again, thanks.

[JI7]

4. They aren't the US and some elections were delayed here also

[Blue_true]

5. The time of the General Election is defined in the Constitution.

Primary election dates are set be states and can be changed by state governors.

[JI7]

9. Good point, as long as they stay within the rules it's understandable

when you consider the reasons for it.

[LisaL]

6. Our in person primary was cancelled the evening before the primary.

[SeattleVet]

11. New Zealand is a Parliamentary Democracy, and the Prime Minister has a lot of latitude.

In the US our election date is embodied in the Constitution, and Needy Amin can't just make changes as he wishes.

[eppur_se_muova]

8. NZ has a parliamentary system. Changing the election schedule is not such a big deal ...

... under such a system. In fact, elections may be called any time there is a vote of no confidence, regardless of the calendar.

[RhodeIslandOne]

14. The problem is, facts don't matter for Trumpsters. n/m

[eppur_se_muova]

15. They certainly don't matter to 45. He makes them up or ignores them at whim. nt

[canetoad]

10. NZ Election laws

snip

Up until the issuing of the election “writ”, which is the official instruction to go ahead and hold an election, the prime minister alone gets to decide when the election will be. Although the governor-general formally issues this writ, she does so purely on the prime minister’s advice.

That is why when Jacinda Ardern announced in late January that we would be voting in September, everyone immediately noted the date in their calendar as “election day”.

However, that writ has not yet been issued and is not planned to be until August 16. As such, there is not yet any legal requirement that September 19 be our polling day.

Should the prime minister conclude the planned election date is no longer tenable, she can simply nominate another Saturday instead. It will have to be a Saturday, because by law New Zealand elections must fall on that day. Otherwise, she is free to pick any date until early December, by which point the law says an election must be held as parliament’s three-year term elapses.

https://theconversation.com/by-delaying-the-dissolution-of-parliament-jacinda-ardern-buys-time-on-the-election-date-but-only-a-little-144351

[rooboy]

12. In countries like NZ, Australia, UK, the PM can decide when the election is to be held...

as long as it is called within the time limit of the term of the government. Otherwise, it must be held at the end of the sitting government's term of office.

In fact, it is not unusual for a PM to call an election after only 12 months in office to take advantage of favourable poll ratings, so there is absolutely no comparison between the US and what is happening in NZ. Also note that Jacinda Adern is almost certain to win with a large margin.

In fact the US constitution's demand that the election be held on a set date is problematic because it creates the "October Surprise" phenomenon and allows people with cynical agendas to plan according the date.

[NYC Liberal]

17. The constitution doesn't define the election date. Federal law does.

The date can be changed but it requires a law to be passed.

The constitution does fix January 20 as the date that the Presidential and Vice Presidential terms end though, so there is a practical limit to how much Congress could delay an election. (I say “practical” limit only because the date could technically be pushed past January 20; but we’d just have an Acting President from the line of succession until the election was held.)