Christopher Luxon says the three weeks waiting for the final vote count are "incredibly frustrating". Photo: RNZ / Nick Monro
ACT and the Greens say free and fair elections must not be sacrificed for a faster final result, as National's Christopher Luxon continues to express his frustration.
ACT leader David Seymour, though, has floated the idea of reversing the decision to allow people to enrol on election day - but say such decisions should be left to an independent review.
The Greens' electoral spokesperson Golriz Ghahraman says the near-three-week wait is simply the price that must be paid to keep voting easy.
Luxon this week raised the possibility of speeding up the final vote count, saying a three-week delay is "way too long". He suggested in interviews on Wednesday that the time allowed could be shortened, the Electoral Commission could release daily updates, and the commission could handle local elections.
He repeated that when speaking to reporters in Auckland on Thursday, ahead of the final results being released on Friday.
"It's incredibly frustrating for everybody," he said. "It's sort of like, 'hurry up and wait'. That's why I would like the Electoral Commission to actually process special votes in a much quicker way going forward, if possible."
As experts have explained, the final count includes much more than just counting special votes. It also allows for a checking and rechecking of all the ballots to avoid any miscount or fraud.
A Labour spokesperson said the incoming government was "free to raise the matter with the Electoral Commission and as part of the regular parliamentary review of the operation of the election".
Seymour said it was the process, and fairness, that mattered.
"You've got to take a step back. Yes, it's pretty frustrating that it's taken so long to count the votes, but let's not lose sight of the real goal here which is free and fair elections that are above any kind of suspicion - that's absolutely key no matter what the result is."
David Seymour Photo: RNZ / Angus Dreaver
He said the proper place for Luxon's questions to be answered - as Luxon himself had suggested - was in the post-election review, rather than individual politicians "trying to make those decisions off the cuff".
However, he seemed open to some changes.
"If democracy's worth doing it's worth doing well, but I think people could ask the question: is it worth waiting an extra week in return for people's ability to walk up and register instead of pre-registering? Reasonable people can argue either way on that, but that's certainly a question that needs to be asked."
The timeframe for the final result was extended by about a week in early 2020 to allow people to enrol on election day. In the 2017 election, about 19,000 people did not have their special vote counted on Election Day as they were not enrolled.
Ghahraman said that was "horrifying".
"We want to have as many people as want to have their say be able to do that."
She said she did not think speeding up the vote count would make much difference to the formation of the government - and she was surprised at Luxon's frustration.
"He hasn't been through that many elections, we've got to remember, so maybe he's not quite used to this. I mean Chris Luxon himself said he doesn't even know Winston Peters... this has probably just given him some nice breathing room to get David Seymour and Winston in the same room and cobble together the chaos."
Golriz Ghahraman Photo: RNZ / Cole Eastham-Farrelly
Ghahraman said the special votes would not radically change the make-up of Parliament and seemed fine with the length of time taken.
"If it's the price that we pay for having early voting, many more places where we can vote from, and many more people's votes that get counted - then I think it's very reasonable.
"The nation is waiting for our democracy to do its thing, we are very grateful that we have a mixed-member type democracy, not one of those two-horse races like in the US... many other nations with an MMP-type system wait much longer, we know that negotiations will also take longer, so it's in fact just part and parcel of our electoral system."
Luxon and NZ First leader Winston Peters have been talking up the possibility of a speedy negotiation - but Seymour was a little more cautious.
"It's perfectly possible that a deal could be done within days, but if you think about it: this government should be in place for over a thousand days, you don't want to penny-pinch one or two days."
