Media Release
3 September 2001

Greens Response On Party Hopping Bill- Bad Conscience

“The reaction of the Greens spokesperson on Electoral reform, Rod Donald, to the Electoral Integrity Bill is nothing but bad conscience,” says New Zealand First Leader, Rt. Hon Winston Peters.

“It reminds them of how they came into Parliament on the back of Jim Anderton and the Alliance, and then mid-term said they were going to desert the Alliance. They would not be in Parliament now were it not for the Alliance’s efforts on their behalf.

“The electoral law of this country is clear and nothing in the Bill infringes the principle that a political party is entitled to decide who its Members of Parliament will be.

“The idea that an MP can totally disregard the proportional vote in parliamentary voting terms, decided at the previous election needs to be refuted as soon as possible. We are talking about the continuing expression of the will of the people at election time and that is the right that should be paramount,” concluded Mr Peters

ENDS

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