Prime Minister Bill English and Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett rolling ice creams for supporters at Original Pokeno Ice-Cream. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Prime Minister Bill English and Deputy Prime Minister Paula Bennett rolling ice creams for supporters at Original Pokeno Ice-Cream. Photo / Mark Mitchell
Get ready for a frenetic final day of campaigning, mixed with a tinge of sadness for Labour leader Jacinda Ardern as she take a break to attend her grandmother's funeral.
The party leaders are converging on Auckland for a final day of campaigning.
Ardern is visiting businesses in the citybefore going to Te Aroha for her grandmother's funeral.
After that she'll be back on the trail with several walkabouts in Auckland's suburbs.
National's Bill English will be in his campaign bus, winding his way to Auckland and stopping off in towns along the way.
And it's the last chance for people to get on the voters' roll.
Enrolment closes at the end of Friday and the Electoral Office said on Thursday there were still 340,409 eligible voters yet to sign up.
Campaign diary
Yesterday: Bill English and the National Party bus campaigned up the North Island as far as Taupo. Jacinda Ardern visited a mushroom farm in Christchurch and Canterbury University. James Shaw visited Auckland University.
Today: Jacinda Ardern will attend her grandmother's funeral in Te Aroha. The National Party bus will head to Auckland.
Tomorrow: Interference-free voting. All campaigning must cease. Any statement including tweets likely to influence a voter to support or oppose a candidate or party is liable on conviction to a fine of $20,000.
Advanced voting: The Electoral Commission advises that 806,043 people have voted early, compared with 435,095 by the same time at the 2014 election and 190,019 at the same time in the 2011 election.
MMP in a nutshell: • You have two votes under MMP. • The Electorate Vote is for the person you would like to be your local Member of Parliament. • The Party Vote is the most important and is for the party you most want to be in Government. • The Party Vote determines how many MPs each party has. • Parties can only have MPs if they win at least 5% of the Party Vote or if they win an electorate seat.
