Party

Party
Votes

%
Votes

Electorate
Seats

List
Seats

Total
Seats

Labour Party

1,169,397

49.1

43

21

64

National Party

638,393

26.8

26

9

35

ACT

190,106

8.0

1

9

10

Green Party

180,224

7.6

1

9

10

Māori Party **

23,938

1.0

1

  

1

New Zealand First

63,447

2.7

-

-

-

Others

115,967

5.0

-

-

-

TOTAL

2,381,472

  

72

48

120

State of parties after the count on election night (Turnout 82.5% - up 2.7% on 2017)

(*Special votes (overseas votes) yet to be counted ** Māori Party lead Labour in electorate -special votes will determine outcome)

A political earthquake struck New Zealand on general election night with the Labour Party securing a second term in office with an absolute majority. This is the first time since the MMP voting system was introduced in 1996 that a political party has won such a majority.

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The New Zealand Minister of Finance, Hon. Grant Robertson, delivered the budget on 14 May 2020. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic the original budget had to be scrapped.  The new budget is  dubbed "Rebuilding together" and its main focus is on jobs.

The main budget item, whose cost dwarfs all others by an order of magnitude, is the $50 billion COVID Response and Recovery Fund (CRRF). Most of the money is to save businesses with wage subsidies and tax relief, and launch a number of major infrastructure projects to create more jobs.  About $30 billion of this fund has already been committed.   This also includes ongoing costs associated with keeping COVID-19 eliminated from New Zealand.  Everyone entering the country is put up, for 14 days, in hotels which have been repurposed as quarantine facilities.  People are tested twice during quarantine - near the beginning (day 3) and near the end (day 12) of the quarantine period, before being cleared to enter the country proper.

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Alan Woods comments on the uprising in the USA, which was sparked by the police murder of George Floyd, and has become the catalyst for an explosion of anger by the downtrodden in America that has sent shockwaves throughout the world. What is the way forward?

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 Over the last two years, more black Americans were killed by police than Americans were killed in combat in Afghanistan over the last 18 years. ‬More black Americans were killed by police in the last three years than people were killed in the September 11, 2001 attacks. ‪Combine this with a devastating economic crisis and pandemic, and it is easy to understand why a tipping point has been reached, as the accumulated rage and humiliation of centuries spills over onto the streets.

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The virus was first detected in Hubei Province, China. Bats were probably the original reservoir. Because humans don't have much close contact with these mammals, it is likely that the virus first jumped the interspecies barrier to another animal, perhaps pangolins, then crossed the barrier again, to humans, in a “wet-market”. Live animal markets house dozens of different species in close proximity in a warm, humid environment. This is the ideal breeding ground for infection. Captive animals are especially susceptible because they are stressed, compromising their immune systems.

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Image:Pixaibay

"Events on a world scale are moving at breakneck speed. The new coronavirus (COVID-19) has set in motion a chain reaction, which is upending any semblance of stability in one country after another. All of the contradictions of the capitalist system are coming crashing to the surface."

Hamid Alizadeh, Coronavirus pandemic opens a new stage in world history. www.marxist.com, 13 March 2020

The breakneck speed of events was evident here in New Zealand. On 1 March we had one confirmed case of COVID-19, a NZ resident returning from Iran. Two weeks later, we had 10. Then over the space of a week, the number of cases soared to more than 100. On the weekend of March 21-22 the government closed the borders to all but returning NZ citizens and residents. Finally, on 25 March the country was put into a complete lockdown. All worksites are now closed except for an approved list that provides essential services, such as food and medicine. Apart from essential workers, no-one can travel more than 2km from their place of residence. People can buy groceries and go for a walk to get fresh air. They must observe social distancing and interact only with people in their 'bubble', the handful of people in their immediate household.

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The following statement by the International Marxist Tendency explains how capitalism has utterly failed to deal with the coronavirus crisis, and is putting the lives of millions of people at risk. In such a situation, half measures and tinkering with the system are futile. Only drastic measures will suffice to avert the impending disaster.

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image: Pixaibay

Events on a world scale are moving at breakneck speed. The new coronavirus (COVID-19) has set in motion a chain reaction, which is upending any semblance of stability in one country after another. All of the contradictions of the capitalist system are coming crashing to the surface.

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The General Election is now set for Saturday 19 September 2020. The Labour Party was elected in 2017 using the slogan “Let’s do this” but they won’t be able to use “We’ve done that” this time. This is an issue that must be addressed.  The Labour-led coalition government which took office after nine years of National austerity, was met with optimism and enthusiasm. The trade unions took action hoping for better pay and conditions. They were backed by many young workers hoping for a better deal. Even the Prime Minister and the Education Minister addressed picket lines, mainly to plead patience, as they could not do everything at once, they said. However, patience has not been rewarded as far as workers are concerned.
 
We will analyse the campaign and the achievements of the current government in future issues. For now we wish to consider the lessons that can be learnt from past campaigns, starting with the very first.
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2019 was marked by many tragedies but few could have compared with the measles epidemic that swept Samoa. It killed 83 people (as of the end of December 2019) , nearly all of whom were children aged under four, and it infected 5,520 people in total. To put this in context, Samoa only has a total population of approximately 200,900 people. What makes this measles epidemic such a d tragedy is not only the numbers of babies and toddlers killeor infected but the grim reality that the epidemic could have been avoided.

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The latest outbreak of coronavirus has caused the biggest wave of stock market losses since 2008, wiping $5tn off share values worldwide. Markets are worried that the virus will have a serious impact on an already weak world economy. These fears are not unfounded.

The new coronavirus epidemic is having important implications for the class struggle, which we covered yesterday in an article about the outbreak in Italy. In this article we will deal with the effect the outbreak is going to have on the world economy.

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