2 Days on and it's all Going Wrong

Less than two days have passed since the results of the general election came out, and while the Green Party of Aotearoa, New Zealand Labour and Mana Hapori o Aotearoa were expected to form a Government; a statement recently released by the Leader of Mana Hapori shows that this is not going to be the case.

It has been revealed by the Leader of Mana Hapori, Kate Kawhena MP, that Labour has been unwilling to support their main policies; including the Poverty Action Plan. This was presented to the membership of Mana Hapori, and they decided that they should leave the negotiation table, and leave Green and Labour to their own devices.

I sat down with Kate on this, to discuss what this means for the future of the Government. She has confirmed that the option of Confidence and Supply Agreement has been ruled out, saying; "We're not interested in existing for the purpose of supporting the Government."

She has also told The Independent that, while Mana Hapori did oppose some of Labour's proposed policy, it was not at the same extent of Labour's opposition to Mana policy. Kate has said that Mana raised issue with a mere 3 of the 58 policies presented by Labour, compared to 42 of the 80 policies presented by Mana facing opposition from Labour. She has also indicated that most policies supported by Labour weren't ones advocated by Mana Hapori on the campaign trail.

Quotes also attributable to Kate on this issue include, "If there was a serious danger of National getting into Government I would have stayed in negotiations" and "I dearly hope that Labour and Greens reconsider, but if they don't then I think they will find a way to struggle on, Mana will merely remain where we are on the Crossbench holding them to account."

The Independent reached out to the leadership of the Green and Labour parties for comment. CheerfullyPutrid, Co-Leader of the Greens had no comment. Sylviagony, Co-leader of Labour has stated that they will be releasing a statement soon, also saying that, "We are however very disappointed in Mana Hapori's lies and attacks on the Labour Party over some disagreements. Leaking to the press is simply uncalled for."

We are yet to know how the remaining days before a Snap Election will go to go, however we at the Independent believe that this will result in an election, with the result of that unpredictable