Luxon disappointed as ACT and NZ First approve vote-splitting advert
National leader Christopher Luxon has said he is disappointed that his coalition partners, ACT and New Zealand First, signed off on a newspaper advertisement encouraging vote-splitting.
Vote-splitting means giving the electorate vote to one party and the party vote to another. The advertisement was placed by Reality Check Radio and written by former National and ACT leader Don Brash. It encourages right-leaning voters not to give National their party vote, in order to keep the left out of government. The Post reported that the advertisement explicitly asks voters to give their party vote to ACT or New Zealand First.
The campaign intends voters to split their vote in a way that forces an overhang. An overhang happens when a party wins more electorate seats than its share of the party vote would give it. Under this plan, National would win electorates, while ACT and New Zealand First would increase their party vote shares.
Under electoral law, ACT and New Zealand First needed to approve the advertisement. RNZ reported that both parties confirmed on Friday that they had done so.
ACT leader David Seymour said his party first rejected the campaign. ACT later approved it, on condition that the campaign would back ACT in the Epsom and Tāmaki electorates. Epsom and Tāmaki are exempt from the campaign's overall strategy to force an overhang. Seymour is standing for re-election in Epsom. James Christmas is ACT's candidate in Tāmaki, after Brooke van Velden retired.
Brash has also placed a separate advertisement, as a personal message, encouraging people to vote ACT in Epsom and Tāmaki. That advertisement is distinct from the Reality Check Radio campaign.
Luxon said National does not support the campaign. He warned that it risks confusing voters and could result in a Labour-led coalition government.
Seymour said a party vote for ACT adds to the coalition just as effectively as a party vote for National in keeping Labour out of power.
New Zealand First leader Winston Peters said Luxon had made a terrible mistake. He said voting for National was wasting your vote.
