New Zealand delays September election

Special Desk

Jacinda Ardern, the prime minister of New Zealand, has decided to postpone general elections slated in the country on 19 September, by a month amid a spike in COVID-19 cases. It shall now be held on 17 October.

Ardern said on Monday that the new date would allow parties to plan around the range of circumstances we will be campaigning under. Earlier this week, the country’s largest city went back into lockdown.

This decision gives all parties time over the next nine weeks to campaign and the Electoral Commission enough time to ensure an election can go ahead, Ardern said, adding that she had “absolutely no intention” of allowing any further delays to the vote.

The opposition National Party has argued the election should be delayed as restrictions on campaigning mean Ardern had an unfair advantage. Restrictions were imposed on Auckland on Wednesday after a number of new infections were identified in the city.

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Nine new coronavirus cases were confirmed on Monday, bringing the number of active cases linked to the Auckland cluster to 58. The outbreak was initially traced back to members of one family, although Ardern later said that subsequent contact-tracing had found an earlier case involving a shop worker who became sick on 31 July.

A health official who knew the family told the New Zealand Herald that the family were “shell-shocked” and “a little embarrassed that it had happened to them”.

New Zealand has reported more than 1,600 infections and 22 deaths since the pandemic began, according to figures from Johns Hopkins University. An early lockdown, tough border restrictions, effective health messaging and an aggressive test-and-trace programme had all been credited with virtually eliminating the virus in the country.