The New Zealand Electoral Commission yesterday unveiled safety measures designed to allow a national election to proceed as planned in September, despite the COVID-19 threat.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced the Sept. 19 election date in January, before the global scale of the contagion was apparent, and has repeatedly said she does not plan to move it.
With New Zealand set to end a seven-week lockdown in the next few days, the commission said it had held discussions with health authorities about how to stage the vote safely.
“This year’s election will be different because of COVID-19, a range of measures will be in place to help keep people safe,” it said.
Chief electoral officer Alicia Wright said these included line management, physical distancing, hand sanitizers alongside ballot boxes and protective gear for people staffing voting stations.
Advance voting and postal voting would be encouraged, particularly for elderly people and those with existing medical conditions.
The guidelines did not cover other election activities such as campaign launches, party rallies and door-to-door canvassing, all of which are likely to be significantly affected.
Ardern said she had only considered the election “in passing” as she deals with the COVID-19 situation.
“The election feels — in terms of days, weeks and months — a lifetime away,” she told reporters yesterday. “As you’d imagine in the middle of a global pandemic, it’s not something that I have yet turned my mind to.”
Opinion polls taken earlier this year before the pandemic reached New Zealand showed Ardern’s Labour Party trailing the National Party slightly, but on track for a narrow victory with the help of coalition partners.
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