NZ First crosses MMP threshold
As NBR reveals a charity scandal involving the NZ First leader, most now pick his party's return to power. PLUS: National unable to govern alone.
NZ First has crossed the 5% MMP threshold in the iPredict poltical marketplace, hitting a new high of 5.6%.
The odds of Winston Peters returning to parliament also hit a new high today, peaking at 64% as the party leader continued to feed off teapot tape publicity.
A Herald Digipoll this morning put NZ First on 4.9%.
The latest party standings, by iPredict data, mean National could not form a government alone - leaving Mr Peters in a potential power broking position.
As the MMP nightmare unfolds, NBR has revealed disturbiing information about a trust established to divert attention from Mr Peters' 2005 electoral misspending of $158,000 of Parliamentary Services money.
The trust was established to benefit Susan Couch - the sole survivor of the 2001 Pamure - Mt Wellington RSA massacre. But financial statements for the three years to March 2011 show that just $2058 had been disbursed. Read more on Matt Nippert's investigation in today's print edition of NBR.
Click any chart to enlarge.
iPredict, backed by Victoria University, says it proved more accurate than 15 of the 19 polls carried out in the run-up to the 2008 election.
Its data is based on bets, or "contracts" taken by its members.
NBR staff
Fri, 18 Nov 2011
Fri, 18 Nov 2011
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NZ First crosses MMP threshold
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