User:Aubernas/sandbox

The choice to host the World Cup in Qatar has been the source of substantive controversy, such as criticisms of Qatar's human rights record, especially their treatment of migrant workers and position on LGBT issues, leading to allegations of sportswashing. Others have said Qatar's intense climate and lack of a strong football culture is evidence of bribery for hosting rights and wider FIFA corruption. Boycotts of the event are planned by several countries, clubs and individual players, and former FIFA President Sepp Blatter has twice said that giving Qatar hosting rights was a "mistake". Current FIFA chief Gianni Infantino has defended the hosting of the tournament in Qatar.

The 2020 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 17 October 2020 to determine the membership of the 53rd New Zealand Parliament. The previous parliament was elected on 23 September 2017 and officially dissolved on 6 September 2020. Two referendums, one on personal cannabis consumption and regulation thereof and one on euthanasia, were held at the same time as the election. The opposing National Party, led by Judith Collins since 22 July, was defeated in an unprecedented landslide by the Labour Party led by incumbent Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. It was the first time a New Zealand political party has secured a majority of seats under the MMP voting system (a highly rare occurrence in any country that utilises proportional representation), thus being the largest political win for any one party in the MMP era of New Zealand electoral history. As such, the second term of the Sixth Labour Government is the first term of government in the MMP era which requires neither a coalition government nor a confidence and supply agreement with any other party in Parliament. The Labour Party also achieved the highest percentage of the popular vote (49.1%) for any political party since the National Party won 54.0% of the popular vote in 1951.

Voters elected 120 members to the House of Representatives under New Zealand's mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system, a proportional representation system in which 72 members are elected from single-member electorates and 48 members are elected from closed party lists. As of 16 October 2020, 3.49 million people (92.5%) out of an estimated eligible population of 3.77 million were registered to vote in the election. Advance voting opened on 3 October 2020, with 1.98 million votes cast before election day.

Results of polls earlier in the year were not particularly strong for any party. However, the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand on 28 February and the government's strong and widely praised response to it under Jacinda Ardern led to Labour polling unprecedentedly strongly. Polls suggested that Labour could either govern with confidence-and-supply from the Greens or even alone, something unprecedented under MMP. As well as Labour's superior public support and the focus of the election for the public being almost entirely centered around the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National party leadership changing three times in less than three months helped lead to poor polling and a public perception as being weak and divided. It is widely understood Labour picked up a large amount of its vast support from the centre-leaning demographic in New Zealand, many of whom had previously voted for National under John Key, with Ardern's personal popularity assisting greatly.

The results of the "COVID-19 election" led to the rapid flipping of many traditionally "blue" National-voting rural seats, within often more than comfortable margins. Examples were the Wairarapa, East Coast, Ōtaki and Rangitata, the latter having never previously voted for Labour. In another devastating blow to National's heartlands, every city except Auckland and Tauranga gave their seats entirely to Labour. Victims of National seat losses were National deputy leader Gerry Brownlee, who had held Ilam for its entire existence; Chris Bishop, considered a rising star who unexpectedly flipped Hutt South for National in 2017; and Father of the House Nick Smith, member for Nelson since 1990. It was a disaster for the National party, the worst defeat for them since 2002 and one of the worst ever.

As for other parties, the Greens rose to 10 seats, helped by Labour's centreward shift; they asked for the party vote over the candidate vote, tactically ensuring candidates running against Labour would not split the vote in National's favour. In a surprise victory, popular MP Chlöe Swarbrick won the Auckland Central seat vacated by National's retiring Nikki Kaye, with a margin of 492 votes over Labour's Helen White. The National Party's floundering support and split between moderate and conservative wings meant the right-wing ACT party picked up 10 seats, 9 of them list seats beside their stronghold in Epsom. Winston Peters and his party New Zealand First suffered their worst result ever, losing every seat they held and only gaining 2.6% of the party vote, shattering chances of Peters being in his usual "kingmaker" position and "consigning him to political history". Crushed in the last election due to voters in Māori electorates greatly choosing Labour over the Māori Party, co-leader John Tamihere made it clear they would not re-enter a coalition government with National like they did in previous terms of Parliament; the Māori Party gained one seat, taking Waiariki from Tāmati Coffey, while Labour held all other Māori seats. As of this election, New Zealand has four new LGBT+ MPs; it is now officially the most queer parliament in the entire world.

The 2020 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 17 October 2020 to determine the membership of the 53rd New Zealand Parliament. The previous parliament was elected on 23 September 2017 and officially dissolved on 6 September 2020. The opposing National Party, led by Judith Collins since July 22nd, was defeated in a landslide by the Labour Party led by incumbent Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern. It was both the first time a New Zealand political party has secured a majority of seats under the MMP voting system, and the largest political win for one party in New Zealand history.

With an election delayed by an outbreak of COVID-19 in Auckland in August, voters elected 120 members to the House of Representatives under New Zealand's mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system, a proportional representation system in which 72 members are elected from single-member electorates and 48 members are elected from closed party lists. As of 16 October 2020, 3.49 million people (92.5%) out of an estimated eligible population of 3.77 million were registered to vote in the election. Advance voting opened on 3 October 2020, with 1.98 million votes cast before election day. Two referendums, one on personal cannabis consumption and regulation thereof and one on euthanasia, were held at the same time as the election. Results of polls earlier in the year were not particularly strong for any party. However, the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in New Zealand on February 28th, the government's strong and widely praised response to it under Jacinda Ardern led to Labour polling unprecedentedly strongly. Polls suggested that Labour could either govern with confidence-and-supply the Greens or even alone . As well as Labour's superior public support and the focus of the election for the public being almost entirely centered around the handling of the COVID-19 pandemic, the National party leadership changing three times in less than three months (from a conservative to a more moderate, and back to a conservative) helped lead to poor polling and a public perception as being weak and divided. It is widely understood Labour picked up a large amount of its vast support from the centre-leaning demographic in New Zealand, many of whom had previously voted for National under John Key, with Jacinda's personal popularity assisting greatly.

The results of the "Covid election" led to the rapid flipping of many traditionally "blue" National-voting rural seats, within often more than comfortable margins. Examples were the Wairarapa and Rangitata, the latter having never previously voted for Labour. Every major city except Auckland gave their seats entirely to Labour. Victims of National seat losses were National deputy leader Gerry Brownlee, who had held Ilam for its entire existence, Chris Bishop, considered a rising star who unexpectedly flipped Hutt South for National in 2017, and Father of the House Nick Smith, member for Nelson since 1990. It was the worst defeat for the National Party since 2002.

As for other parties, the Greens rose to 10 seats, helped by Labour's centreward shift; they asked for the party vote over the candidate vote, tactically ensuring candidates running against Labour ones would not split the vote in National's favour. In a surprise victory, the internationally popular MP Chlöe Swarbrick won Auckland Central from National's outgoing Nikki Kaye, with a margin of 492 votes ahead of Labour's Helen White. The National Party's floundering support and split between moderate and conservative wings meant the right-wing ACT party picked up 10 seats, 9 of them list seats beside their stronghold in Epsom. Winston Peters and his New Zealand First gained one of their worst results ever, shattering chances of him being in his usual "kingmaker" position and "consigning him to political history". Controversial former Labour MP John Tamihere became one of two leaders of the Māori party. Crushed in the last election due to Māori people greatly choosing Labour over them, Tamihere made it clear they would not reenter a controversial coalition government with the National party; they gained one seat, taking Waiariki from Tamati Coffey. Labour gained the other Māori seats.