The Dominion MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1943. THE GENERAL ELECTION

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 1, 27 September 1943, Page 4

The Dominion MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 27, 1943. THE GENERAL ELECTION

With the result of several seats still dependent on narrow majorities and the final count to come, it is not yet wise to estimate confidently the exact strength of parties as the outcome of the General Election. One thing, however, is quite clear, and that is that there has been a decided swing in public opinion against the Government. It is equally plain that the change of opinion disclosed has been, favourable to the views and, it may be' said, also favourable to the personnel of the National Party as represented by its candidates at the election. , . The Government, on the figures as available today, has lost nine seats and gained three. One of its three gains has been at the expense of the National Party—the Maori seat held by Sir Apirana Ngata—the other two being the seats of' Independents who previously had been members of the Labour Party. The National Party, on the other hand, has won nine seats held by the Government, and may be said to have added to its strength by winning two seats previously held by Independents, who had given general support to the party. For working purposes,the position, therefore, at this stage, appeals o that the Government strength totals 44 seats, plus an Independent w 10 usually has supported the Government, namely, the member lor Nelson. This represents, as stated, a net loss of six seats. 1 lie National Party has a strength of 34, plus one Independent pledged to a general support; and so should possess a voting strength o • The decline of the Government in popular favour is well indicated by the manner in which the votes were cast. At the General Election in 1938 the total of votes polled by the Labour Party was stated to be 494,425, while the votes polled against the Party totalled 390,840. This represented that year an absolute majority for Government candidates. On the present occasion the Labour Party vote dropped by approximately 100,000 votes, while the votes of those opposed to the Government candidates increased over the 1938 figures by moie than 40,000 votes. In other words the absolute majority held byt Government in 1938 over all its opponents has been in 1943 changed into a minority. That is the result of the count of the votes recorded at this stage of each of the two elections. It shows a remarkabe falling away in popular support from the present holders of office,, . fact further emphasized by the reduced majorities recorded y Ministers and their candidates generally. _ It is not without significance, too, that in seveia instances Government candidates were saved from defeat only by the soldiei vote. A substantial part of this vote must have come fromi the men overseas. Some of these men have been absent, from the Domimo for years, and they have been away under conditions which made it practically impossible for them to keep abreast of developments here. They know little or nothing of the political changes that have; take: place. They had no means of ascertaining the trend of publ cop mo> , and can have known little of the conflicting issues of policy to be judged before casting their votes. Indeed with the censoishii operation preventing the free expression of views even by iel ati writing to the men overseas on economic and politico-economic matte s, the soldiers would cast their votes under a distinct handicap. More ‘ over, the Government’s persistent use of its privileged position contact the men with various forms of propaganda not available to its opponents and critics, no doubt had some effect in turning votes in favour of Government candidates. . ' . t .< un t Be that as it may,' however, it is certain that the vote of the soldiers overseas must have been very much in the nature of a vote in the dark, and based oh conditions as they knew them many ’ ago, and not as they actually are today. In consequence the of voters within the Dominion, familiar with the course of domestic events, and with the policies and programmes and personalities of the. various, candidates and parties’, may fairly be considered as sound guide to popular sentiment. And that voting should convey Government a sharp warning of the widespread nature of the - satisfaction and distrust with which it is regarded. The vote too may properly be taken by Mr. Holland and his supporters as an expresZ of confidence in their efforts to check the inroads that are so constantly being made on individual liberty and what were once known as human rights. The National Pity’s campaign m the recent elections has revealed to the people of the Dominion that there is available to them an alternative to the present Government which they might well trust with the guidance of the country s affairs —a party with constructive and progressive ideas, vigorously led and untainted by the craze for State Control and bureaucratic dictation of the way people should pass their lives. Ihe new Parliament should be strengthened by the accession of new- members, who are likely to raise both the tone and character of the House of Representatives.