Uhura's Mazda
Banned
Between 1891 and 1912, NZ was governed by the modernising Liberal Party, which united both farmers and urban workers until the point at which the farmers, having achieved land reform, moved towards the more conservative Reform Party, and the urban workers drifted towards new Labour parties. At this point, Reform took over the Government until 1928, when the Liberals (now under a fresh new name: the United Party) surged back into a minority Government with support from Labour.
However, the Great Depression struck at this point, and Labour withdrew its' support, meaning that a United-Reform coalition took power from 1931 to 1935, at which point it lost dramatically to Labour. The coalition continued in Opposition, though, and the parties merged into the National Party in 1936.
So what if they'd remained separate, like the Lib-Nats in Australia? Would this require the survival of the two-round electoral system in operation in 1908 and 1911? Or would they simply have come to an arrangement where one Party contested urban seats and the other rural seats? And long-term, would the existence of a semi-independent liberal party have ensured that personal freedoms were protected in post-war Governments, while people like Roger Douglas were kept out of the Labour Party by the existence of a more appropriate alternative?
However, the Great Depression struck at this point, and Labour withdrew its' support, meaning that a United-Reform coalition took power from 1931 to 1935, at which point it lost dramatically to Labour. The coalition continued in Opposition, though, and the parties merged into the National Party in 1936.
So what if they'd remained separate, like the Lib-Nats in Australia? Would this require the survival of the two-round electoral system in operation in 1908 and 1911? Or would they simply have come to an arrangement where one Party contested urban seats and the other rural seats? And long-term, would the existence of a semi-independent liberal party have ensured that personal freedoms were protected in post-war Governments, while people like Roger Douglas were kept out of the Labour Party by the existence of a more appropriate alternative?