National Wins 1987 NZ Election

How could the National Party win the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Zealand_general_election,_1987? No party leaders can be killed or incapacitated, and the PoD must be after 1984. No nuclear issue is probably a must, but what else? What are your ideas? What would be the effects? Ruthanasia 3 years early, collapse of the National Party, reversal of Rogernomics or no more reforms but instead stability? What if?

If you could actually bring NZ to a proper default say in 85-6 then you might be able to blame that on Labour and allow National to sneak back in.
 
Structural Change

I consider that the structural change would have still taken place looking back at the various government entities that were privatised I would have considered this to have changed regardless whom was in power. Accordingly if that structural change had not taken place we would have had to have changed sooner or later.
 
If you could actually bring NZ to a proper default say in 85-6 then you might be able to blame that on Labour and allow National to sneak back in.

While our electorate memory is relatively (painfully) short, Muldoon had pissed too many people off and, despite the agony of Rogernomics, too many remembered just how deeply into debt National's "Think Big" policies had gotten us for that to work. Unless you can figure a way to stop Rogernomics from being implemented in the first place. From memory, it was only after the 1984 election, when Treasury briefed the incoming Labour government on just how bad the economic situation was, that Douglas got his shot at radical reform. Have Treasury fail to brief Labour in time & throw in Muldoon's intransigence on the currency crisis and the due payment may be missed before the Labour government can get to grips on the issue.

If a default does occur, then the most likely result is that both Labour and National will be blamed. Labour for failing to pay it, National for causing the problem in the first place. Under these circumstances, it would not be out of place for an early election to be called. In which case, I could see a scenario where both major parties lose seats, with disenchanted voters going to the only viable alternatives: Social Credit and the New Zealand Party.

I don't see either of those getting enough seats to form a government on their own, but... a minority or coalition government is plausible, and I think, National's only real chance of getting back into power in 1987.

As for "Ruthenasia", it was just the second round of "Rogernomics", although Richardson's fiscal responsibility bill was the best thing the Bolger government ever did and one reason it's been so hard for the politicians to blame the previous government for financial irresponsibilities, despite the vagaries of the elecorate. (See above mentioned short term voter memory)
 
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National was in 1984 full-bore Muldoonism, and in 1990 and 1991 was full bore right and Ruthanasia. So, where were they in 1987? It seemed they disowned Muldoon but were still leaning to oppose Rogernomics, but what exactly would they have done?
 
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