Just 29 new cases recorded as deputy prime minister calls on Ardern to move election from September to November

This article is more than 5 months old

This article is more than 5 months old

Jacinda Ardern has refused to postpone New Zealand’s September elections over the coronavirus pandemic, despite calls for a delay from her deputy and the deputy opposition leader.

On Thursday New Zealand recorded a significant drop in corona cases for the fourth day in a row, with just 29 new infections, 21 fewer than the previous day.

Winston Peters, the deputy prime minister, told Radio NZ his party, New Zealand First, had always preferred 21 November for the poll, and believed the coronavirus crisis meant the later date “makes even more sense” now.

Deputy opposition leader Paula Bennett has questioned whether the public would be ready for a poll.

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“In the last couple of days I’ve just been wondering just how ready would the public be for a September 19 election,” she said. “Is it fair to them and fair to our whole democratic system to be asking them to go through that?”

Ardern nominated the 19 September date back in January, and when questioned on Thursday she said the date would remain, saying there were too many unknowns at this stage to make a definitive decision on changing it.

“It is soo soon … to make a determination of where we will be even in a month’s time from now,” Ardern said. “I don’t want to make a judgment yet, it will depend on what alert level we are at if people can even get out and vote.”

Constitutionally, she can push the date back to Peters’ preferred date in November, but she has previously declined such a move on several occasions.

Ardern’s Labour party governs with the support of minority parties NZ First and the Greens, ahead of New Zealand’s most popular party, National.

The most recent polling has NZ First dropping out of parliament, leaving a dogfight between the left-leaning parties and National for a majority. No public polling has been released since the outbreak of Covid-19.

After mounting pressure Ardern also announced that all arrivals into New Zealand would be forced into mandatory quarantine at 14 Auckland hotels for a minimum of 14 days.

Ardern said New Zealand’s borders were its greatest asset in the fight against corona but also its weak point, with the majority of the country’s 1200 cases still having links to overseas travel.

Thursday marked two weeks since the country entered strict lockdown measures, and the prime minister thanked New Zealanders for their efforts, and restated there would be no early end to the shutdown.

“In the face of the greatest threat to human health we have seen in over a century, Kiwis have quietly and collectively implemented a nationwide wall of defence,” she said. “You are breaking the chain of transmission. And you did it for each other.”

The government will make a decision on whether to end or ease out of the lockdown on 20 April, two days before its scheduled end date.

Ardern was clear that whatever form the lockdown easing takes, Kiwis would only be moving from a level four to a level three, and many restrictions to freedom and movement would still apply.