Kimmy has picked a good time to launch a political party in NZ. In the past the traditional voter split was the low paid and beneficiaries on the left voting Labor and higher paid on the right voting National. The current, and normal Labor voter pitch has been to blame the rich for not paying enough taxes which is idea that appeals to low income groups. The problem is that it has created a a situation where once you earn 44% above the average salary your are classed as mega rich and taxed at the top possible rate. This see a large portion of the population paying the top tax rate and they tend to gravitate right. A gross over simplification of the status quo, but gives non-kiwis the general picture.
The National party has been in power for two terms and seeks a third. The catch is, like many second term governments, they appear to have stopped listening to their traditional voters and have been pursing policies that appear to serve US corporations more than the people who voted them in. So people such as myself who were worried about being overtaxed for working harder are now worrying about our disappearing freedoms. I don't want to vote labor as I don't want to pay more taxes and if I vote national it's like I am telling them I think is is ok to sell out my freedoms on the promise of a US free trade agreement that will never come. The USA will never sign a free trade agreement with NZ because the US farmers have too much lobbying power and will never allow NZ primary produce to compete on US soil on equal terms. That's fine, the US has every right to protect their farmers, we can simply compete with them on the world market. So with nothing to gain then giving away our freedoms through secret deals such as TAPA does not appeal.
So I was looking at not voting, a protest in it's own right, but a protest without voice. Along comes Kimmy with some issues dear to my heart and now I have somewhere to make my point. If he doesn't make the 5% threshold then I'm no worse off than not voting and if he does then his mob can stir things up a bit and under the NZ MMP voting system one seat parties can have an influence in coalition governments. They have been able to set policy to the bigger parties on minor issues that are important to them and can swap sides if the bigger party starts acting like a dick. Yes, this election has the potential to be interesting.