Impossible it may seem but read about the countries where it has worked
Venkat Raman
Auckland, September 27, 2023
With minor political parties emerging as the deciders of the next government, would it not be prudent for the two main Parties- National and Labour form a Grand Coalition and avoid all the hardships, asks Shailesh Bagwe, a Political Observer and an active Labour Party supporter.
Mr Bagwe was at the offices of Indian Newslink as a part of our Podcast and Video series on General Election 2023. He has watched with interest the New Zealand political scene over the past 24 years and believes that a working arrangement between National and Labour could be the best solution for the country to move forward.
We reminded him that the two parties are poles apart and that their ideologies will not match.
“But watching the First Leaders Debate on TV One on September 19, 2023, it was clear that the two Leaders (Chris Hipkins and Christopher Luxon) were in agreement on many issues. It may not be difficult for them to work together. New Zealand needs a strong government which cannot be provided if the ACT Party continues to make demands even before coalition talks are held. I believe there is scope for a Grand Coalition,” he said.
Political intransigence is the norm in a multi-party democracy. With neither National nor Labour expected to obtain enough seats to form their own government after the October 14, 2023 general election, chaos is likely, says a former Member of Parliament.
However, he said that a Grand Coalition will never work in New Zealand.
About Grand Coalition
A Grand Coalition is an arrangement in a multi-party parliamentary system in which the two largest political parties of opposing political ideologies unite in a Coalition Government.
Occasionally circumstances arise in which normally opposing parties may find it desirable to form a government together. For example, in a national crisis such as a war or depression, people may feel a need for national unity and stability that overcomes ordinary ideological differences. This is especially true when there is broad agreement about the best policy to deal with the crisis.
In this case, a grand coalition may occur even when one party has enough seats to govern alone.
Among the countries that have had Coalition governments are Austria, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Japan, Malaysia, the Netherlands, Spain and the United Kingdom.
The German Model
Germany is perhaps a good example since our Mixed Member Proportion (MMP) system was adopted from their model.
In post-war Germany, the Grand Coalition referred to the partnership between the Christian Democrats and the Social Democrats, the two largest parties in the country. While Germany has historically tended to favour narrow coalitions of one of the two largest parties with the FDP or with the Greens, four Grand Coalitions have been formed at a federal level: the Kiesinger Cabinet (1966-1969), the First Merkel Cabinet (2005-2009), the Third Merkel Cabinet (2013-2018) and the Fourth Merkel Cabinet (2018-2021).
Mr Bagwe said that in Maharashtra (his home State), the Maha Vikas Aghadi Alliance was formed between the Indian National Congress, the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) and the Shiv Sena after the 2019 Legislative Assembly election.
“While the Congress and the NCP reflect centre-to-centre-left policies and have a secular ideology, the Shiv Sena reflects right-wing policies and has a Hindu-nationalist ideology. The Alliance formed the government in Maharashtra after a political crisis. This Alliance was in power only for half term (two-and-half-years) but it was a good experiment,” he said.
Another possibility is that the major parties may find they have more in common ideologically with each other than with the smaller parties. This is often a result of a cordon sanitaire, where the mainstream parties of the left and right form a coalition to keep parties of the far left or far right out of government.
Mr Bagwe also discussed the slogans of National and Labour and the directions that they will take in governing the country.
