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Andrew Dickens: A Government before Christmas is unlikely · Early Edition with Ryan Bridge

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: On the election the other day, Christopher Luxon sent conniptions
• 0:03
  Speaker 1: through the commentariat when he said we'll be lucky to
• 0:05
  Speaker 1: have a government by Christmas. Poor old Heather had a
• 0:07
  Speaker 1: meltdown about that. But you know what? I am not
• 0:10
  Speaker 1: surprised about the Prime Minister saying that. So we have
• 0:13
  Speaker 1: an election on November the 7th. Rit Day is December
• 0:16
  Speaker 1: the 3rd. Now that is the deadline that's already been
• 0:18
  Speaker 1: set for all the votes to be counted. That's three
• 0:20
  Speaker 1: weeks after the election. Guess what? It's always been three
• 0:23
  Speaker 1: weeks after the election. So the Rit Day hasn't changed.
• 0:25
  Speaker 1: And here's the thing. Same day, voting was removed from
• 0:28
  Speaker 1: this election, and the reason given was to make the
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: vote count faster. If it's not faster, then the allegations
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: of electoral manipulation will be strengthened, and people will start
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: saying this was done to disenfranchise the votes of the lazy,
• 0:39
  Speaker 1: the ignorant, and the young. So let's watch to see
• 0:42
  Speaker 1: if they beat that deadline. But let's just say, we
• 0:48
  Speaker 1: know the vote by the start of December. Then the
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: negotiations begin with the so-called minor parties looking to have
• 0:53
  Speaker 1: a stronger hand because the minor parties are turning into
• 0:56
  Speaker 1: medium parties. And that's going to slow things down. Chloe's
• 0:59
  Speaker 1: going to sit there going, I want to be the
• 1:00
  Speaker 1: Minister of Finance. Winston's going to be saying, I want
• 1:04
  Speaker 1: to be Deputy Prime Minister the whole term. I don't
• 1:06
  Speaker 1: know what will happen, but the negotiations will be slower.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Then there's Christmas. Then there's the January holiday. And all
• 1:12
  Speaker 1: this depends on whether the mandate is clear from November
• 1:15
  Speaker 1: the 7th, which it is fair to say is currently
• 1:18
  Speaker 1: looking murky. So it's going to be a while. And
• 1:20
  Speaker 1: I think Christmas seems like a forlorn hope to me.
• 1:24
  Speaker 1: February seems far more likely or sometime in January. And
• 1:27
  Speaker 1: then after that, I have odds on any coalition being
• 1:29
  Speaker 1: quite shaky. And I think it's an even bet whether
• 1:33
  Speaker 1: we'll be back to the polls in a year. So
• 1:36
  Speaker 1: buckle yourself in. It's going to be a wild ride.