8 Oct 2020

Election 2020: Minor parties debate

8:12 pm on 8 October 2020

Five of the smaller parties - ACT, Advance NZ, the Green Party, the Māori Party and New Zealand First faced off in a debate tonight.

The one-hour debate on from 7pm was moderated by TVNZ political editor Jessica Mutch McKay.

The contest between David Seymour (ACT), Jami-Lee Ross (Advance), James Shaw (Greens), John Tamihere (Māori) and Winston Peters (NZ First) could translate to valuable votes for the parties striving to gain at least 5 percent or an electorate seat to guarantee their place in Parliament.

The debate follows a TVNZ / Colmar Brunton poll which had ACT at 8 percent, Green at 6 percent, NZ First at 2 percent, and Advance at 1 percent.

The New Conservative party took TVNZ to court this week in hopes of also being included, but the judge rejected their case.

TVNZ had set a criteria of polling above 3 percent, or having been in Parliament in the past two election cycles, so the New Conservatives' low polling tonight confirms they will not be able to join.

Another debate last week - Newshub's Powerbrokers debate - included ACT, the Greens, NZ First and the Māori Party. Advance co-leaders Jami-Lee Ross and Billy Te Kahika went to court in a bid to be involved in that one - but were also rejected on the grounds they did not fit the criteria Newshub had set.

Here's the debate as it happened:

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