New Zealand Will Delay Elections Due to COVID -19

 

Prime Minister Jacinda Arden announced that elections will be delayed at least until October. This is in response to the increase in COVID-19 infections. Observers thought that New Zealand had beat the disease and pandemic. Celebrating too early was a major miscalculation. Opening too soon as other countries have learned resulted in a wider spread of infection. While a new sense of urgency has come into the public consciousness, few have questioned the delay in  parliamentary elections . Delaying the elections would seem to give incumbents an advantage otherwise not present under normal circumstances. If New Zealand has a fully operational postal service, casting votes should not be an issue. The only problem would be ensuring that every vote cast is counted. The pandemic has finally resulted in one of the public's worst fears. World leaders will exploit the crisis to increase their power and gain unfair advantage. The political opposition the National Party also favors delays in elections. Judith Collins has went as far as to suggest making the elections be held in November. Being the leader of the opposition, there should be at least some alternative. The country enacted some of the strictest lockdowns and still are struggling with the pandemic. This should not be tolerated by citizens who want to vote and value the democratic process. Other countries such as Uganda and Vietnam have used COVID-19 as an excuse to limit freedom of their populations. Both Democratic and Authoritarian regimes use the pandemic to gain more political power.