Posted by Blogger Name. Category:
Audrey Young
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Hone Harawira
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Internet Party
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Kim Dotcom
,
Mana Party
,
Marriage of convenience
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MegaMana
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Sue Bradford
,
The 1%
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| Gimme a hug Big Fella! |
Stand by for an engagement announcement at 11am this morning; Audrey Young from the Herald reports:
Mana leader Hone Harawira is this morning expected to announce a formal deal with Kim Dotcom's Internet Party to jointly contest the September election.
The marriage of convenience is designed to maximise the chances of both parties gaining MPs in the next Parliament.
It is likely to involve the creation of an umbrella alliance - with both the "Mana" and "Internet" names in the title.
It will be registered with the Electoral Commission, enabling both parties to present a single combined list in the same way the Alliance did in the 1990s with various component parties, including the Greens, NewLabour and Mana Motuhake.
Mr Harawira is the sole Mana MP and holding on to his seat is critical.
If he retains his Te Tai Tokerau seat on September 20, the new alliance will be able to claim its percentage of the party vote even if it falls under 5 per cent.
If the Internet Party were not tied to an electorate seat, it would have to get 5 per cent of the party vote on its own before getting seats in Parliament.
For its part, the Mana Party will almost certainly get a lot more profile than it otherwise would during the campaign.
The Internet Party is likely to stump up with a bigger war chest than Mana could though the extent of joint campaigning has yet to be announced.
The Electoral Commission donation declarations yesterday revealed that Mr Dotcom, an internet mogul, gave the Internet Party $250,000 on May 14.
Audrey Young is dead right to call this a "marriage of convenience". It is a cynical manipulation of electoral laws designed to give a voice to a party which at this point has no leader, no candidates, and the only noticeable policy being preventing Kim Dotcom from being extradited to the USA.
The next round of donations declarations will be interesting. A donation of $250,000 from Kim Dotcom to the Internet Party was declared yesterday, but no donations seem to have been declared to date by Harawira's party. That is something to be followed with interest in coming months, because we're sure that there will be a dowry paid in this "marriage of convenience"
During his speech in the Budget Debate, Hone Harawira said this:
MORE INCOME INEQUALITY between the rich and the poor, with National’s policies creating an environment where the richest 1% of NZers own 16% of the country’s wealth while 50% of NZers own less than 5%, and where the income of the top 1% has risen nearly 10 times faster than that of the bottom 10%.
It's really ironic that Harawira seems to have decided that if you can't beat the 1%, you join them. What say you this morning Sue Bradford?
MORE INCOME INEQUALITY between the rich and the poor, with National’s policies creating an environment where the richest 1% of NZers own 16% of the country’s wealth while 50% of NZers own less than 5%, and where the income of the top 1% has risen nearly 10 times faster than that of the bottom 10%. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/05/16/hone-harawiras-budget-speech-last-night/#sthash.Ystne9bn.dpuf
MORE INCOME INEQUALITY between the rich and the poor, with National’s policies creating an environment where the richest 1% of NZers own 16% of the country’s wealth while 50% of NZers own less than 5%, and where the income of the top 1% has risen nearly 10 times faster than that of the bottom 10%. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/05/16/hone-harawiras-budget-speech-last-night/#sthash.Ystne9bn.dpuf
MORE INCOME INEQUALITY between the rich and the poor, with National’s policies creating an environment where the richest 1% of NZers own 16% of the country’s wealth while 50% of NZers own less than 5%, and where the income of the top 1% has risen nearly 10 times faster than that of the bottom 10%. - See more at: http://thedailyblog.co.nz/2014/05/16/hone-harawiras-budget-speech-last-night/#sthash.Ystne9bn.dpuf
