Some good blog coverage of the opening of nominations for the President of New Zealand. 

Greg at Gman inc (copied on Silent Running):

"We're impertinent toward empty ritualism, of vestigial conventions, of being made to do things "just because,' the reasons for which have long since become obsolete if indeed they were ever otherwise. And what's the top of the social system food chain for obsolete ritualism in New Zealand? None other than the Monarchy, of course.

Unpatriotic? Rebellious? Only to dead wood! Not to a healthy, evolving New Zealand though. Not to liberty and independence. Individuals matter, familys and friends matter. The persistence of status quo architecture does not. And when it outlives its usefulness, someone needs to step up. The first of us to do so will meet resistence, 'twas ever thus..."

Just Left calls it a "good campaigning idea", while The Ex-Expat doesn't know who they'd nominate. No Right Turn offers some thoughts on this problem:

It was the latter [nomination] which was most troubling, because despite inclining towards a directly elected head of state, I really have no idea who I'd want to do the job. Recently, we've filled it with judges, retired ombudsmen, and other rather grey public officials, who do it well precisely because they approach it as something like a judicial office, where their job is not to rock the boat, but to do what convention requires. But such people tend not to be public figures. And in real life, they're not likely to seek or campaign for the position, in part because it would undermine the neutrality they need to do their current jobs. In the end, I nominated some elder statespeople with the mana and presumed discretion to pull it off, but I'm not sure I'd want to see the job become a sinecure for former politicians.

So, public nomination comes up against the problem of lack of public knowledge. Which is, I suppose, why in Ireland nominations are done by Parliament and local bodies rather than the general public.

Which is why we've added the nomination process to the head of State survey. Overall a good spread of left and right blogs. 

Also a note on qualifications for nomination (on the voter information page) will be restricted as they are in the Head of State (Referenda) Bill, under section 43 - qualification for nomination:

"Every elector is qualified to be nominated as a candidate for the election of head of State."

"Elector" is defined by the Electoral Act 1993 section 74 as:

•  
  •  
    (i) A New Zealand citizen; or
    (ii) A permanent resident of New Zealand; and

  (a) That person is—

  (b) That person has at some time resided continuously in New Zealand for a period of not less than one year;

"...every adult person is qualified to be registered as an elector of an electoral district if-

In other words, anyone over the age of 18 who is a New Zealand citizen or permanent resident and has lived here for more than one year.