NON VOTE THE SECOND HIGHEST IN THE MODERN ERA

The dissatisfaction with our present set of political parties and their policies has been highlighted by the number of people who did not participate in the general election. Nearly 700,000 people did not vote, the second highest non-voting rate in modern New Zealand history.

IN WHAT can only be described as a blunt assessment of New Zealand, post-election, the BBC has reported that 'the national mood is low and faith in politics is even lower.'

'Many Kiwis feel the economy is in ruins, there are no jobs, the cost of living has become sky high, the sense of community that used to be a source of national pride is breaking down and there's no sense of genuine progress on policy solutions,' writes BBC correspondent Tiffanie Turnbull.

The widespread sense of disillusionment that is abroad in the community has been highlighted again by the number of people who did not vote. According to preliminary Electoral Commission figures, out of 3,796, 891 enrolled voters, approximately 965,009 people did not vote. That represents a non-voter rate of 25.4 percent. This is on track to be the second highest non-voting rate in modern New Zealand history, exceeded only narrowly by the 2011 general election when 25.8 percent of enrolled voters did not vote. 

The hollowing out of our so-called representative democracy means that political leaders like Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon can only scrape together low levels of support from a society that has seen a significant number of people disengage from electoral politics altogether. 

As I wrote in 2023: 'Whether a political leader promises to end child poverty or take climate change seriously, the stagnant pool of unfulfilled promises increases with each election and with it, further disillusionment with our 'representative democracy'. People have become more and more convinced that voting is pointless because nothing ever changes for the better in their own personal lives.'

It's clear that the lack of a political alternative at this year's general election did nothing to dispel the belief that voting is pointless because the political establishment always wins.

It's also worth noting that some 240,000 eligible voters did not enrol, which takes the non-vote to around 1.2 million. 

The BBC asks whether the new government will be able to 'win over disillusioned voters'. If it remains loyal to neoliberalism and the interests of capital, then the answer to that question can only be in the negative.