There is an unwritten but generally accepted practice among Governments to make sure that whatever Saturday is set down for the elections, that it does not clash with a foreseen event – e.g. Rugby Championship match, a major international event likely to overshadow it such as a general election in Australia.
In 2026, the reasoning given by the Prime Minister, Christopher Luxon was…. “it just seemed like a really really good date”.
But… the date is set. Saturday 07 November 2026 is the day that New Zealand will decide whether an underperforming National-led coalition that has caused middle and lower class New Zealanders much avoidable pain, will get a second term.
I expect that Parliament will continue to sit until no later than the third week of September. At this point, the Governor General will deliver the writ, which will contain three dates :
- The election date – the absolute date that the election is going to be on
- The deadline for candidate nomination – candidates will not be accepted for nomination past this date
- The deadline for returning the writ with the full list of confirmed candidates
The returned writ will have the nominated candidates in the order of party priority for Parliament – e.g. Leader, Deputy Leader, 3, 4, 5 and so forth. At the 2023 General Election The Opportunity Party (T.O.P.), stood 12 candidates, with Raf Manji as Leader and Natalia Albert as Deputy Leader. In 2026, the Leader is Qiulae Wong, with her deputy yet to be named.
The mood for the 2026 New Zealand election might in part be defined by the United States midterm elections to determine the composition of the 2026-2028 Senate and Congress. If voters are restless and grumpy with the performance of the administration of President Donald Trump, or angry with their Congressperson or Senator, they might be in the mood to end the political careers of a few. There then comes the possibility that such sentiment might be reflected in New Zealand voters decision making between Tuesday 03 November and Saturday 07 November.
It would not be without precedent in New Zealand. Four days before Prime Minister Helen Clark was defeated in the 2008 General Election, Americans decided that they wanted a black Democrat President, Barak Hussein Obama. Were however, the Republicans under Mr Trump to suffer a similarly historic defeat in the midterms and lose both the Congress and the Senate, I am not sure given the absolute lacklustre performance of Labour in the last three years, that it would translate to a decisive Labour Party victory.
Before then though, I am hoping that Labour will remove some of its bygone M.P.’s, just as the Speaker of the House, Adam Rurawhe has decided his time has come.
Leftist Kiwi Writes 