Key reaffirms he will share power

Audrey Young reports:

Prime Minister John Key has committed himself to seek agreements again with all three of his support partners – United Future, Act and the Maori Party – irrespective of whether National needs their votes to govern after the election.

“If we are in a position, come November 26, to get around the table irrelevant of how large our party vote is, we are definitely going to make the phone call to these support parties and sit down and have a discussion with them,” he said after the United Future conference in Wellington.

This is the major difference between 2002 and 2011. In 2002 Clark called a snap election so she could try and gain absolute power, and cut out the need to share power.

In 2011 John Key announced the election date 10 months before the election (removing his tactical ability to go early while polls are high), and reaffirms that he will share power with other parties, even if he is able to govern alone.

What I think will be of most interest (if National is re-elected) is whether they “upgrade” the co-operation agreement with the Greens. While the Greens will always choose a Labour-led Government over a National-led Government, it is not impossible they could agree to abstain on confidence and supply in return for portfolios such as Biosecurity or even a new “Public Transport” portfolio with its own dedicated budget.