The Labour Party is dismissing the Prime Minister's challenge for the party to say definitively that it will buy back shares that have been sold as part of the government's partial privatisation programme.
David Cunliffe. Photo: RNZ
Final results of the citizens-initiated non-binding referendum show more than two-thirds of the 1.3 million people who took part oppose the Government selling up to 49% of the assets.
Prime Minister John Key says if Labour and the Greens believe that gives them a mandate, they should say clearly whether they plan to borrow money to buy the shares back.
Labour leader David Cunliffe told Radio New Zealand's Morning Report programme on Tuesday his party will probably buy back shares, but a decision will have to wait until after it can assess the country's finances if it wins the next election.
Result misleading, says statistician
A statistician says the strong opposition to the government's asset sales policy in the referendum is statistically inconclusive.
Thomas Lumley from Auckland University says the referendum could be biased because people strongly opposed to asset sales would be more likely to vote.
Dr Lumley says non-binding referendums are seldom useful because they don't compel the government to do anything and don't necessarily represent the views of most New Zealanders.
He says a phone poll on asset sales would give a more accurate result even with a far smaller sample because pollsters can ensure they question a representative sample of the population.
Voter turnout up slightly
The voter turnout in the referendum has gone up slightly in the final count of ballot papers.
Preliminary results were released on Friday. The official result on Tuesday takes into account voting papers that have arrived since then.
Turnout increased from 43.9% to 45.1% of enrolled voters and there was little change to the proportion of those who voted for and against asset sales.
The final yes vote (those in favour of partial sales) was 32.4% of valid votes, while the final no vote (those against), was 67.3%.
