New Zealand republic: a real-life example
Australia and New Zealand's head of state, the Queen of the United Kingdom, is about to embark on a tour of Australia that even conservative newspapers are saying "could be her last." While the Queen is in Australia for a few days, the people of the Republic of Ireland will be heading to the polls on 27 October to elect their 12th head of state since the enactment of a new constitution in 1938.
The Republic of Ireland is similar to New Zealand in terms of population and parliamentary system (and, scarily, public debt size!). For this reason we often point to the republic as an example to how a New Zealand republic could look.
As we pointed out earlier this year, in New Zealand the Prime Minister chooses the Governor-General, while in Ireland, the people elect a president. Currently leading the race for the Aras (The Irish president's residence, pictured at the top, above) is Michael D. Higgins, who according to one opinion poll has 27% of the "first preferences". The Irish president is elected using a preferential voting system. Higgins has passed former front-runner and independent senator, gay rights activist David Norris. This was following a public debate on Irish television (RTE) on Sunday night.
The other candidates have outlined why they should be president. It's a diverse field - men, women, a gay candidate, a conservative Catholic candidate, a candidate from Northern Ireland. There's no reason why New Zealand couldn't field a similar number of candidates. (Just look at the New Zealander of the Year awards). The underlying theme is the role of the Irish president in shaping Ireland's national identity - so much for fears that presidential elections would be about policy. As RTE points out in this series of videos, the president doesn't implement policy - so the debates are about character.
How much is this costing Irish taxpayers? The campaigns themselves are self-funded, with the most expensive being €350,000 ($NZ 578,990). This is about the same candidates for the Auckland mayoralty spent last year.
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Careful, Lewis. While NZ does have a high external debt that compares to Ireland (basically, public plus private debt), it's public sector debt is very much lower than Ireland's (source: Wikipedia). Unless governments go 'round nationalising debt on a large scale (and I acknowledge that that can and does happen), it's difficult to place the two at the same level of importance.
Fair point Mike, although not the main point I was making :-)
No worries, Lewis. Sorry to be pedantic, but I suspect how close the NZ Government is to default is going to become more of an election issue. So I think it's important we all have our facts right.
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