Sadly, not really. But nominations have closed in the Republican Movement's mock-election for New Zealand's new head of state, and the initial candidates have been announced:
The nominees were ranked by the number of nominations received, with all but the top ten being eliminated. The candidates for the first elected head of State of New Zealand are (in alphabetical order):At first glance, there's an awful lot of knighthoods in there - suggesting either that at least some of those knighted in the past were worthy and didn't just buy their honours like Michael Fay, or that we have an exaggerated respect for the holdovers of feudalism. There's also some pretty good candidates in there, with Bob Jones (whose primary claim to fame is being rich and obnoxious) as an obvious exception. I'm also not sure what Wilson Whineray has done to deserve nomination other than play rugby; while I'm sure that's considered desirable by some segment of the population, I don't think its enough of a qualification even for a figurehead president.
- James Belich
- Jim Bolger
- Sir Douglas Graham
- Sir Robert Jones
- Sir Kenneth Keith
- Don McKinnon
- Claudia Orange
- Vincent O'Sullivan
- Dame Kiri Te Kanawa
- Sir Wilson Whineray
Voting will open shortly, once they have candidate profiles up.
