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In a chaotic double jab of shortsighted stupidity, the National Party seems��to have forgotten��two��of the most��important rules of politics.��

Don’t��threaten voters and don’t��forget that Winston Peters holds a grudge like no one else.��

In a move seemingly devoid��of any semblance of common sense, the National Party managed somehow kill two birds with one story. ��

In the Herald��on Sunday, campaign chair Chris Biship spoke of a scenario where neither the left nor the right blocs get to��60 seats.��

In his scenario, the right bloc does not include New Zealand First.��

He then went further. ��

“The second scenario is when there is essentially a��hung Parliament and NZ First is in the middle, but it is just impossible to do a deal between National, Act and NZ First. That is a very real and growing possibility and that would necessitate, essentially, a��second election.”��

It was the quote that set the scene for the final week of the campaign. ��

It was interpreted as a threat to an already election-fatigued public. Bishop’s intention clear: A vote for New Zealand First could mean a vote for a second election. ��

Winston Peters was quick to comment, saying National was treating voters with contempt and he was��“scaremongering”.����

“It is telling voters National would instead enforce another costly election on the nation purely because of their own political expediency,” Peters told the Herald’s Claire Trevett. ��

And Peters is right.��

A scenario where a weary��looking Chris Luxon would have to front up to the New Zealand public with his tail between his legs��and tell them the election’s back on is unfathomable.��

Unfathomable because of the impact it would have on the National Party.��

It’s��not New Zealand First that would be punished in the polls – it would no��doubt be Luxon and his team.��

The gap between the left and right is already a lot narrower than many are aware. ��

Dragging Kiwis back to the polls would undoubtably see that gap narrow further,��to the point where the left may leapfrog the right. ��

A disaster scenario for National; a party on the cusp of winning back the treasury benches, forced back into opposition because of its hubris.��

But of course, it won’t��happen.��

Bishop knew his threat was an empty one when he talked to one of New Zealand’s most respected political editors��about a story which he also knew would be frontpage news, given the gravity of the claim. ��

He gambled��on the threat working: It didn’t.��

In Wednesday’s Tale of Two polls, National’s��vote bumped a solemn one point��according to 1��һ�ǿ�����’ numbers; but they dropped almost 5 points according to ��һ�ǿ�����hub.����

Meanwhile, New Zealand First remains��firmly above the five��percent threshold according to both polls. ��

The ploy to scare voters away from Peters failed and in the crucial last week of the campaign National looked desperate.��

Bishop’s gambit was a silly one – but��it’s��not enough to sink the election for National. ��

When the history books are written, the defining moment of the 2023 election occurred on August 28, when Chris Hipkins unambiguously and unequivocally ruled out working with New Zealand First. ��

Since then, there have been no ifs buts or maybes in��terms of an about turn on that position. ��

For the left bloc, that means there's��no realistic path to power – meaning tomorrow night, Hipkins will��likely��need��to concede��the election.��

Over at National HQ, it will be Luxon’s night.��

But amid the cheering and speeches, the National leader’s mind will be on the next couple of months, and the horse trading he’ll��be doing with Peters. ��

At New Zealand First HQ, Winston Peters won’t��have forgotten��National’s final gambit to scare voters off his party. ��

A gambit that not only failed, but backfired. ��

Now he’s��in the drivers’��seat – and no one holds a grudge like Winston Peters. ��

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