COSTS OF THE KIWI WAY OF DEMOCRACY

The price of democracy is more than the arduous chore of finding a spare
five minutes once every three years to cast a ballot, The Dominion Post
writes in an editorial. Most people were reminded of that this week when
first, the Aotearoa Legalise Cannabis Party, and then Peter Wakeman, a man
who takes his democratic responsibilities more personally than most,
proposed standing in Te Tai Hauauru.

That is the Maori seat held by Tariana Turia, who quit Labour over the
foreshore and seabed issue. She is standing for her seat again and, if no
one stands against her, will be re-elected unopposed and without the
$500,000 cost of a by-election. As taxpayers, and with every indication
that Mrs Turia would easily win against allcomers, most New Zealanders
would consider the money well saved. As citizens in a democracy, however,
there is an acknowledgment that if anyone else stands, the financial cost
simply must be borne.

Mr Wakeman likes elections. By-elections and mayoral elections are his
specialty. Many other people like elections too, but do not personally feel
the need to stand in them. Mr Wakeman stood against New Zealand First
leader Winston Peters in Tauranga in 1993 and for the mayoralty of both
Tauranga and Christchurch in 1998. In these elections, and in a previous
tilt at the Tauranga mayoralty, he has been unsuccessful but not unbowed.
"We live in a democracy and it is important to keep it that way," he told
The Dominion Post this week, when explaining why he would stand in Te Tai
Hauauru, an electorate in which he neither resides nor is eligible to vote.

New Zealand will go on being a democracy whether or not he or anyone else
stands against Mrs Turia. Decisions by the main political parties not to
put up a candidate in the seat have been made not to save the country
money, nor because democracy is failing. The parties are not putting up
candidates because if they did, they are likely to be thrashed by Mrs
Turia. Most by-elections invite a backlash, and this one would be ripe for
a landslide. Neither Prime Minister Helen Clark nor Opposition leader Don
Brash appeared outside when the huge hikoi marched on Parliament recently,
but they got the marchers' message just the same.

So, if Mr Wakeman can find two people in Te Tai Hauauru who feel as
passionately as he does for voters to be offered choice, there could yet be
a by-election. So be it. The laws which govern electoral processes must be
followed. The New Zealand way is the democratic way.

The New Zealand way is also an openness between the public and politicians
that New Zealanders take for granted, tilltill they travel overseas and
find how rare it is for the public in some countries to see their
politicians in the flesh, let alone greet them by name, as many New
Zealanders do. The downside of such accessibility is the vulnerability of
politicians to attack. Few Kiwi MPs will not have read of British Prime
Minister Tony Blair being hit by a missile thrown from the gallery in the
House of Commons without thinking "that could happen to me".

New Zealanders like the intimacy of their democracy and both the public and
politicians will regret the day when physical barriers around politicians
become necessary. But like by-elections, it may be a cost that has to be borne.