Co-leader Metiria Turei was in good spirits yesterday, if a little subdued, after the Green Party's disappointing result on Saturday night. It received 10% of the party vote, well short of its 15% aim.
Ms Turei told the Otago Daily Times and other media yesterday the party held its own against the big swing to the right on Saturday.
The party ''solidified'' its 2011 result, of 11%. It is expected that once special votes are counted, the Greens' share of the 2014 vote will be almost the same as 2011.
Elections were unpredictable ''wild beasts'', which tempered any disappointment, she said.
The party ran a strong and clean race amid a ''chaotic'' campaign environment, and she had no regrets.
Asked if she believed Mr Key's promise not to introduce right-wing policy, Ms Turei said the ''proof is in the pudding''. She said Mr Key could show he was genuine by reducing the number of children living in poverty.
However, she also said New Zealand was already so far to the right, it was hard to take it much further in that direction.
The Greens had a strong last term in Parliament, frequently outshining Labour at question time, which is the main vehicle by which Opposition MPs hold Mr Key and his Government to account, and Ms Turei said they would continue to lead the Opposition in Parliament.''
We led the Opposition last term. We will do so again.''
Ms Turei said the party was proved right on a couple of things that had had an impact on the election result. Her co-leader, Russel Norman, asked Kim Dotcom not to form a political party, as it would end up helping National. The Green Party asked Labour to conduct a co-campaign in order to present a government-in-waiting to voters, but was rebuffed.
Asked whether Labour and the Greens would have to co-campaign in 2017 to have a chance of forming a government, Ms Turei said she could not pre-judge the matter. It would depend on the political circumstances. She did not want to comment on Labour's leadership woes.
Yesterday, New Zealand First leader Winston Peters blamed Labour and the Greens for the election defeat. In an interview on TV3's The Nation, he took aim at both parties.
''Labour and the Greens grossly let down everybody in this campaign.
''What was planned in this campaign by the Greens, for example, was pretty terrible in the form of their attack on the Labour Party in the middle of the campaign ... and in the end you cannot have that kind of internecine strife going on, both in the Labour Party and in the Greens, against the Labour Party, and hope to win.''
Ms Turei was bemused by the criticism, saying Mr Peters was ''grumpy'' that he had missed out on being kingmaker.
''Winston made it very clear that he could swing both ways,'' towards either National or Labour,'' she said.
However, Mr Peters had done well to increase his party's share of the vote, Ms Turei said.
Dunedin would continue to suffer under the National Government, she said. Ms Turei, who stood as a candidate in Dunedin North, but spent the evening in Auckland, said she was very pleased Labour's Dr David Clark had been returned as Dunedin North MP.
The ODT spent an hour at Green Party headquarters in Auckland on Saturday, at the historic Hopetoun Alpha in Beresford Square. Results started trickling in at 7pm, showing a relatively low vote for the party. Supporters expected a pick-up as the night wore on, but it was not the Greens' night.
One, an early childcare teacher, told the ODT she was voting Green because of the party's promise to alleviate child poverty. She believed the Greens would do more than Labour to help children living in poverty.
She is just the sort of voter the Greens want to attract, to broaden the party's base, but on Saturday middle income New Zealand chose security and a National Government over tackling problems such as child poverty.
