Call for new poll ‘if seats change’

Press, 4 December 1981, Page 4

Call for new poll ‘if seats change’

PA Wellington The Labour Party will push for a fresh election as soon as possible if special votes again change the division of seats to produce a hung Parliament. Whatever the final result of the General Election, Labour members of Parliament will hold an emergency caucus meeting within 24 hours of the final count being made known. The party leader (Mr Rowling) made it clear yestersday that Social Credit would be expected to back any Labour push for a new election. Speaking after caucus met yesterday in what he described as “a very positive and unified frame of mind," Mr Rowling said that the 43 Labour members returned on preliminary results had examined all the different aspects of the election. “Much is going to depend on exactly what happens with the counting of' specials,’’ he said. "We have been through most of the options. Now we await the final result.” Four seats — all held by National — hang on majorities of less than 75 votes and are therefore vulnerable to change on special votes. Labour believes the votes could be as confused as the election itself.

National’s regaining of Gisborne, after election-night results had given it to Labour, have sharply reduced Labour’s chances of getting the seat back. But Labour is confident that it has chances in Taupo, Eden, and Helensville. The National members in the seats told their own caucus thhat they all had “considerable confidence that the special votes will favour them,” the Prime Mrniter (Mr Muldoon) said yesterday. There was “no nervousness” in the National caucus about the prospect of a return to a hung Parliament. However, Mr Rowling said that there was "no pattern" in special votes. “It is a bit like the election,” he said. If the gap between the parties narrowed in the final result. Parliament should be called together “to prove that the Government can govern.” “If it can’t we certainly will want to see it on its way” he said. Social Credit, which like Labour opposed the Government on key policy issues, including the main elements of the growth strategy, would be expected also to press for a new election, Mr Rowling said. Mr Rowling’s meeting with the Social Credit leader (Mr Beetham) was called off by

Mr Beetham on Wednesdayafter the discovering of the counting errors in Gisborne which gave the seat to National. There will now be no meeting until after the final results are known. . Mr Rowling would give no detailed indication of what attitude yesterday’s Labour caucus took to any accommodation or arrangement with Social Credit. "We haven't burned any bridges,” he said. • Mr Rowling asserted that National had simply won by default — slipping’ in through the spread in the vote between the two Oppositon parties. Referring to Labour's four new seats he said: “Only one party gained in this, last election. If . you count the heads you won’t have any difficulty ascertaining which party made the progress.” The votes cast for Labour and Social Credit far outweighed the votes cast for National, Mr Rowling said. The Government could not claim that the election had given them any sort of mandate for any aspect of their policy.