WI Winston Peters becomes Leader of the Opposition in 1996 NZ election

In the 1996 NZ election, at a point in the campaign the Labour Party was poling around 16%, and faced losing its status as the second party to the Alliance or NZ First. However, with a strong performance in the election debates Labour leader Helen Clark overcame her previous unpopularity and surged to come just behind National and well above all the other parties, only losing out on becoming Prime Minisyer that year when Winston Peters unexpectedly went with National. But, what if Clark hadn't done as well in the debates, and Labour had continued to languish in the polls? Here are my alternate results
1996 NZ election
Jim Bolger-National: 49+8 37.84%
Winston Peters-NZ First: 24+19 18.35%
Helen Clark-Labour: 20-21 15.39%
Jim Anderton-Alliance: 17+15 13.10%
Richard Prebble-ACT: 8+8 6.10%
Peter Dunne-United: 2-5 1.38%
120 seats
61 for majority

National does better than OTL and does better than its 1993 performance under FPP, however National, ACT and United Future only add up to 59 seats, short of a majority. Labour meanwhile has been relegated to third-party status, and Winston Peters is Leader of the Opposition with a caucus of 24 MPs. What would be the effects of this outcome? What government would be formed in 1996 after this result? How would NZ politics progress from here? What if?
 
Impending doom?

Seriously Winnie Peters as Nationals Leader or PM would be hilarious to watch from across the ditch, but i'm sure New Zealanders would dread it. He may actually win the position of PM but i doubt he does that well in government and probably is a 1 term PM.
 
What government would be formed following this result? National and its natural allies ACT and United only add up to 59 seats. NZ First could theoretically form a coalition of the left, as with the Alliance and Labour it adds up to 61 seats, a bare majority. However I'm not sure if that would be feasible. National and Labour add up to 69 seats, a secure majority, so a grand coalition may be possible.
 

Hunter W.

Banned
Winston has two options, remain as leader of the opposition or run for higher office. Apparently, many people within the Labour camp expected him to go with Labour but swung to National.

I wonder if Sandra Lee Vercoe could assume the leadership of Alliance and gain seats at the next election, Peters might remain as leader of the opposition.
 
Top