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James Besanvalle
Jul 28, 2020
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Jacinda Ardern is New Zealand’s most popular prime minister in a century and who could blame her supporters for having such taste?
She’s led her country through a devastating terrorist attack with dignity and respect, shut down Trump and through decisive leadership, got New Zealand down to zero active coronavirus cases.
Iconic.
So in the upcoming general election on 23 September, she’s predicted to get around 61 per cent of the country’s vote.
This would mean she’ll be able to govern with a sizable majority – unlike her current government, which is made up of a coalition with the socially conservative New Zealand First Party, as well as a confidence and supply agreement with the Green Party.
This is where Brexiteers come into play.
Arron Banks and Andy Wigmore – who have worked on the Leave EU campaign and also thrown their support behind Nigel Farage, UKkip, the Brexit Party and now Boris Johnson – have been “hired to do the social media” for the New Zealand First Party.
Speaking to Newshub, Banks confirmed:
There's a contract in place where we're hired to do the social media and give a bit of advice and it's just a plain vanilla commercial deal.
The aim of the deal is to help dethrone Ardern from the top spot by forming a coalition government with the National Party – the party that aligns more closely with the New Zealand First Party’s ideologies.
Banks is hopeful his support for the New Zealand First Party will give them 15 per cent of the votes on 23 September.
Unfortunately for them, current polls predict the party will receive just 2 per cent of the votes.
Wigmore claimed:
We've got a hell of a track record on social media. New Zealand politics isn't so different to UK politics where you've got two big parties and an insurgent one in the middle.
That “track record” includes the official Leave EU Twitter account tweeting a xenophobic poster about German Chancellor Angela Merkel.
The group also faced backlash after calling Remainers “vermin” on Twitter, as well as Banksy clapping back at them.
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