With each passing day the rift in the Alliance grows more serious. The Democrats, formerly Social Credit, weighed into the dispute at their weekend conference, passing a vote of no-confidence in the Alliance president, Matt McCarten. In response, Mr McCarten scoffed that the Democrats lacked the spine to threaten to leave the Alliance should he remain.
"The more principled position would be, 'He goes or we go' - that shows a bit of spine. I would respect that," he said. For good measure, he called them "parasitic". But then the newly elected Democrat leader, Alliance MP Grant Gillon, had called Mr McCarten and his supporters, "refugees from the Socialist Unity Party".
It is unlikely now that the Alliance can continue in its present form. If Mr McCarten and the leader, Jim Anderton, resolve their differences, the Democrats will have to leave. Mr McCarten has left them no option, if they wish to retain any public respect. They will be hoping that Mr Anderton wins this battle for control of the party he founded, and that Mr McCarten has the decency to step down.
Mr Anderton should win the support of the caucus today, since only three of the MPs appear to support Mr McCarten's faction, but the showdown may come at a meeting of the party council next week. It could be a moment of truth: is the Alliance to remain Mr Anderton's creation, or is it to survive in its own right?
There is no doubt which course any self-respecting party would prefer, but it would take immense courage for the Alliance to defy Mr Anderton right now. His is the only electorate the party can count on winning next year. Unless the party lifts its national vote higher than it has been in recent polls, it will need Mr Anderton's electorate to keep a toehold in Parliament and the publicly funded political advantages which flow from that.
Mr McCarten and Mr Anderton disagree on the way to handle the party's predicament. The president wants the party to distinguish itself from Labour when it gets an opportunity such as the Afghan war.
The leader believes Alliance voters are more likely to thank the party for contributing to a stable coalition. Nobody can be sure which course would be more successful. But for worried party members, Mr McCarten's solution at least enables them to do something. Mr Anderton asks them to sit tight, avoid rocking the boat, and hope.
Fresh from his campaign for the Auckland mayoralty, Mr McCarten is clearly feeling his oats. His response to the Democrats speaks for his confidence.
He and some in the party may believe that Mr Anderton is no longer their sole electoral asset. Laila Harre, and Mr McCarten himself, attract a certain following. Is it sufficient to build a base for a party that could survive Mr Anderton's departure?
Underlying this whole dispute may be a fear in the party that their leader is looking and sounding too content among his old colleagues.
As election year looms and little is done to raise the Alliance profile, the suspicion grows that Mr Anderton may be ambivalent about its survival. In his heart, is he returning to the party he served for so many years? If so, then it is time for each component of the Alliance to look to its own future.
<i>Editorial:</i> Alliance wounds too deep to heal
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