John Armstrong: Mana deal was never 'till death us do part'

Mana Party leader Hone Harawira had a car accident and disappeared off the election radar while Kim Dotcom's image changed from anti-establishment hero to absolute zero, writes Armstrong. Photo / NZME.

The now-defunct pact between Hone Harawira's Mana Movement and Kim Dotcom's Internet Party was always a marriage of convenience. Probably too much so.

The stickability of their arrangement was in question from the instant the two parties signed a memorandum of understanding back in May to form an umbrella party - Internet Mana - and run under a joint list in the election.

One clause buried near the end of the document provided that either party could terminate the arrangement with seven days' notice.

It was hardly "till death do us part". And the mix of highly ideological, principle-above-compromise individuals at the party's most senior levels meant the contraption was always capable of flying apart at the most inconvenient of moments.

Much of what has been said and written since the election has argued the arrangement was always doomed.

Harawira, it's been said, should have realised it was pure folly and that the deal was responsible for him and his party losing its one seat in Parliament.

That is easy to say in hindsight. Back in May, however, Harawira was going nowhere as his party's sole MP. A deal with Dotcom had a ring of logic to it. If the Laila Harre-led Internet Party captured voters' imagination - especially that of the young - Mana might pick up two or three more MPs at no cost to itself thanks to its threshold-obliterating electorate seat.

What would have been especially beguiling was the prospect of a party of the left being able to fund an election campaign at the same level as big business-backed parties on the right.

During the first couple of months after the agreement to work together, Internet Mana was on a roll, rising in the polls and holding electrifying rallies.

Then things stalled. Believing Internet Mana was toxic as far as most voters were concerned, David Cunliffe ruled out including Internet Mana ministers in any Labour-led coalition.

Harawira had a car accident and disappeared off the election radar. Dotcom did not. His image changed from anti-establishment hero to absolute zero. There was internal bickering over marijuana law reform. The umbrella party failed to connect with voters on matters of policy.

Unlike the circumstances that saw the Alliance - Jim Anderton's multi-party grouping - reap votes in the 1990s, Internet Mana did not benefit from high levels of disillusionment with both major parties.

As for the future, holding everything together for Internet Mana was Harawira's electorate seat. With that gone, the rationale for Internet Mana went with it.