Mighty River Power or Genesis Energy are likely to be the first State Owned Enterprises (SOEs) to be floated in the National-led government's mixed ownership share sell-down, Prime Minister John Key says.
Many people vote not so much for particular parties, but against others. For instance, I would absolutely hate having Labour in power again, but I really don't like National either even though I did vote for them in 2008 and again on Saturday for my electorate vote. But in voting for them, I did not vote for all of their policies - for instance, I really opposed National Standards.
I also think many voted National because they wanted them in charge of the country - but not because they agreed with all their policies. The only way to know for sure would be to add a survey of the major polices to the voting system. I bet if that was done the politicians might get a bit of a shock.
So now we have John Key saying that he has a mandate for asset sales because his party is the largest party able to form a Government, even though the number of people who voted for him are less than 50% of those who voted. And apparently this election saw the lowest turn-out since the 1800's - more than a quarter of eligible voters stayed at home. I'm not sure how that translates into an explicit mandate.
John Key will have the power to force through asset sales, but he can only say he has a mandate with a referendum. Something I doubt he will risk, considering that when polled most New Zealanders oppose the sale of Government assets and his reaction to the last one initiated by the citizens.
Or even better, give us a voter veto as the Swiss have. If you really have a mandate, John, give us the ability to veto any asset sales and let's see just how much of a mandate you really have.
Mighty River, Genesis first off the block, Key ~ NZ Herald
Asset sales: we have a mandate - Key ~ NZ Herald
One million didn't bother to vote ~ NZ Herald