New Zealand: Political Developments and Data in 2022

Abstract

AbstractPolitics in Aotearoa New Zealand continued to be dominated by COVID‐19 and its consequences in 2022. In the first quarter, the Omicron variant spread throughout the country. As community transmission of COVID‐19 became a part of regular life and the response framework was gradually dismantled, political attention shifted to emerging issues in crime and the cost of living. Pursuing at the same time several ambitious policy programmes, the government struggled to control the narrative and lost ground to the opposition in opinion polls. Popular support for government pandemic management, which had led it to the first single‐party majority government of the mixed‐member proportional system era in 2020, dissipated throughout 2022. The increasing divide in Aotearoa New Zealand was clearly demonstrated by the 23‐day occupation of the Parliament grounds, involving anti‐government, anti‐vaccine and anti‐mandate groups, as well as numerous conspiracy and fringe movements.