John Key's response to the re-emergence of New Zealand First in the polls? Threatening to call another election:
Prime Minister John Key has warned an election result that delivers Winston Peters the balance of power will see the country go back to the polls within weeks.This isn't how democracy is done in New Zealand. We don't vote until we get it right and deliver one party absolute power. The people speak, and the politicians have to lump it. And if that means that Key has to cope with a Parliament with Peters in it, or even negotiate with him for support for his policies, then he'll just have to learn to behave like an adult and find a way to get along, just as Labour had to in 2005 - 2008.[...]
"How can New Zealand govern itself over the next three years - which is likely to be a volatile period in the world economy - when at any stage the whole government can be brought down by Winston Peters"
(At this stage I should also point out that the ability to call elections is bound by the caretaker convention. So Key can't force us back to the polls until he has confidence and supply, at which stage we get to wallop him for calling an election of convenience and making us go through all of this all over again).
