By Tom Kelly
WELLINGTON — The question whether the New Zealand Greens should go it alone or remain within the five-party Alliance was the key focus of debate at the Greens' annual conference, held here on the weekend of May 14-15.
After extensive discussion, the conference voted 81 to 5 to remain with the Alliance.
This year's conference was the first since New Zealanders voted for the multi-member proportional (MMP) system to apply to future national parliamentary elections.
Under MMP, any political party that gains more than 5% of the vote is assured representation in parliament. In the 1990 elections, under the first-past-the-post system, the Greens ran alone and gained about 8% of the vote nationwide.
The Alliance, with two MPs, is currently polling 29% support, seven points behind the National Party government and seven points ahead of the Labour Party. It is composed of the Greens, NewLabour (a large left breakaway from the Labour Party), the Democrats, the Liberals (a small split from the National Party) and Mana Motuhake, a party working towards Maori self-determination
The first-past-the-post system had exerted pressure on smaller parties to band together, and there had been widespread speculation that the advent of proportional representation would lead to the break-up of the Alliance.
A small minority within the Green Party had argued that the Greens should go it alone in the belief that they would get more MPs by running separately than they would get as their share of Alliance MPs. It was also argued that green issues and the Green Party would have a higher profile if the party left the Alliance. These views were put strongly by their proponents and given an extensive hearing at the conference.
The clear majority view, however, was that by staying within the Alliance the Greens benefit from its support and resources. The Greens have a significant input into the Alliance policy process, and hold several key organisational positions.
Policy formulation within the Alliance also ensures that Green policies are integrated within the wider policy framework, and that these policies are promoted by the Alliance as a whole.
After laborious efforts to achieve consensus, it became clear that differences on this question were solidly entrenched, and the conference moved to a vote to resolve the situation. The final decisive 81 to 5 vote clearly lifted the mood of the conference. The enthusiasm to move ahead now was tangible.
Dissenters from the decision have indicated that they will continue to discuss the possibility of forming a new party over the next few months.
Green Party member and co-deputy leader of the Alliance Jeanette Fitzsimons spoke to Green Left Weekly immediately after the decision. "I'm delighted that the vote is so clear. I think that the only thing that would have been worse than a decision to leave, would have been an indeterminate outcome where it was so close that it was going to be constantly relitigated ...
"I'm also glad that we took the time to listen to everybody's point of view, and that those who are against the Alliance have been heard. I will certainly be working within the Alliance to take their concerns on board, to make sure that the Alliance is the sort of green organism that they're afraid that it mightn't be."
On the possibility of the formation of a separate Green Party, Fitzsimons commented, "I think you've got to distinguish between a breakaway Green Party which takes some of the present Green Party into something else, which I think is highly unlikely, and a new green party which perhaps draws in people that haven't been involved in the Green Party so far. That second one is possible. The first one I think is not possible, because with only five people voting against and with them coming from all different points of view, they're not actually a group, they're not clustered around one particular point of view, so I don't see any prospect for a breakaway group.
"I'm very aware of how much work and time and energy and money has to go into forming a new political party from scratch, and I think it's very unlikely that they will succeed in doing that, but they may. I suppose the saddest thing that might result would be if they were to form such a party and attract some of the green vote that might otherwise have voted Alliance, and not get 5% of the vote. All those votes would be wasted."
On the prospects of the Alliance at the next election, Fitzsimons commented, "l think the most likely outcome, looking at the polls consistently since the election, is that we will be the second largest group in parliament. Of course the National Party may self destruct in the meantime. But it seems likely that some kind of Alliance-Labour coalition may be necessary, and the battle of course is for which will be the majority party, and for how we could form a coalition with a party that doesn't share some of our bottom line principles, on which we are not prepared to compromise."
On the possibility of Labour and National forming a coalition to keep the Alliance out of government, Fitzsimons said, "It is possible, particularly if each of those two parties lose some people; what is left could easily form a coalition. Then the public will be really aware of what's been happening over the last 10 years: there's been no opposition at all."