Jacinda’s rise has saved the nation from the misery of another boring election.
Boredom often engenders indifference, which in turn can breed contempt (in this case for the electoral process) and therefore a longing for anti-establishment populist politics.
In that respect, our nation is well served by Jacinda’s rise to Labour’s helm of affairs, the one that should deserve an unequivocal approval from everyone having a stake in New Zealand politics.
Until last week, the countdown to the election was quite stale and boring.
Andrew Little, the man who tried to win the nation’s trust on many occasions purely on the basis of his probity and honesty alone only succeeded in copping consistent battering from the media, and intermittent criticism from the leaders of other political parties such as the likes of Winston Peters.
Indeed, politics can be unfair and harsh sometimes.
However, despite all of this, overall tone of the run up to the elections remained boring.
The National Party was enjoying a near-insurmountable lead in polls, and the parties in opposition were keeping votes between them fragmented and in the process further eroding the cohesiveness from the possible alternative government.
In a healthy democracy, a government’s insurmountable lead over the opposition can be boring, if not undesirable.
It was only our MMP system that ensured some drama and had kept the National Party on tenterhooks to find the right coalition partner to form the government.
Other than that, elections had become largely boring.
This will change now onwards.
The fact that the Labour Party is buoyant, with donations raining in and volunteers lining up to be part of post-Jacinda Labour script, was widely expected.
The media has already described Jacinda’s elevation as “electrifying,” “monumental,” “blockbuster,” and someone who can unleash a “youthquake” in New Zealand politics to suggest that it will treat Jacinda with the seriousness and respect that it could never give to Mr Little.
Mr Little’s jibe on Winston Peters as “blowhard” was taken in poor taste whereas Jacinda’s light-hearted comment that she shared a taste for single malt whiskey with Mr Peters was taken as a display of wit, and more importantly a vibe
Some commentators have described Jacinda’s rise as a scene from the HBO drama series Game of Thrones, signalling our collective appetite for drama in our daily lives.
A less-than-impressive question from the media about Jacinda’s plans for motherhood in the midst of her tenure as future prime minister has quickly galvanised many seemingly disinterested voters around the highly vexatious issue of sexism in public life.
The social media is also abuzz with Jacinda’s rise.
What evidence do we need further to illustrate the point that boredom has suddenly evaporated?
At least for now – that’s the key word. Whether we like it or not our social attention span is at best questionable.
Once our collective exuberance fizzles out the question that will emerge in front of voters is who to choose between – Bill English’s experience over Jacinda’s potential.
Or the National-led coalition’s stability which has certainly been tested, versus the Labour-led Coalition's possibilities which though are untested – and this is only if National would choose to project this way and Labour will be able to change the narrative as outgoing Leader Mr Little had hoped.
There are endless possibilities in this election now, which is good for everyone.
If National is threatened as many commentators suggest, or want them to be threatened, it is good for New Zealand’s democracy.
Winston Peters is quiet though, and surprisingly so. It will be interesting to hear him when he speaks about Jacinda Ardern for the first time.
From a Kiwi-Indian perspective, The Indian Weekender has already tweeted to Helen Clark about any tips that she has for Ms Ardern on how to bring back Kiwi-Indian voters into Labour’s fold.
“You surely had the magic secret recipe (about keeping Indian voters in Labour’s fold),” said our tweet to Helen Clark.
The tweet was liked instantly, though not replied yet, signalling that a new recipe is in the order to bring back Indian voters into Labour’s fold.
It would certainly be interesting to know if any recipe or tip eventually is shared.
However, many in the community can take some satisfaction from the fact that Ms Ardern is a product of the Helen Clark-Phil Goff leadership days. The duo, clearly have had tremendous success in connecting with the community.
Though Ms Ardern will have to find ways on how to repeat and deliver Labour’s hard-nosed ideas on reducing immigration, and seemingly soft-pedalling on law and order – two issues of significant sentiments for the community.
Till that happens, and beyond that, The Indian Weekender extends best wishes to Ms Ardern and sincerely hopes that the best party wins in this election and takes Aotearoa to new levels of progress.