Editorial
Winston Peters has given the National, Labour and Green parties a very tight schedule for negotiating the formation of a government. He will not begin discussions with National and Labour until the final result of the election is announced on Saturday and he wants to have a deal done by
Thursday of next week.
It is understandable he would not want to start until the final election returns are in, since if Labour or the Greens lose a seat on special votes, a Labour-led coalition be all but impossible. But it is harder to see why he has set such an early deadline for concluding the talks.
Thursday of next week is the date for the official return of the results but that is a formality. There is no constitutional need for the government to be agreed by then. The only conceivable reason for Peters to have set himself that deadline, which he did long before the election, was to assuage voters' fear that he might take too long. He is often criticised for negotiations taking six weeks in 1996, and four weeks in 2005. But there is really no hurry. Parliament does not have to assemble until late in November and it is not until then that a government needs to be capable of surviving a confidence vote in the House.
Ideally, the uncertainty would be resolved long before then - this month rather than next - but it is not in the country's interests to have a hasty deal done. Peters' deadline would give the parties just five days for negotiations, which to most people is unrealistic for the options he has left open. If special votes keep Labour in contention, which they probably will, Peters wants to talk to both sides and on the Labour side, the Greens would be involved too.
Five days would be so tight that it raises the question whether Peters really intends to hold negotiations or run a blind tender. He could simply ask National and Labour to make him an offer and would chose the one that suited him better. But that would be no proper way to form a coherent, responsible government. Both major parties would be under pressure to offer him more than they should considering the modest vote his party has received.
