Barry Soper: You think that's the last term of Winston Peters as a deputy? Think

COMMENTARY:

One does not hear yet the last of Winston Peters

It is the clear message that he left to the listeners of the morning show Newstalk ZB from Wellington, bristling with the suggestion that this could be his last hurray.

Peters rarely does radio talkback – he prefers to mix with the masses rather than wagering in the microphone – which is a shame because he was something of a magnet with jampacked lines during his 45 minutes in the studio yesterday. [Traduction] At the suggestion that the 73-year-old alternate may retire in the next election, he left no doubt to the audience that he would still be here for some time.

million. Peters cited the case of the man who looks to become Prime Minister of Malaysia: Anwar Ibrahim, 70, whom he says he knows well, they were both deputy prime ministers and ministers 1996.

Anwar seems ready to replace the Prime Minister there, Mahathir Mohama, 93 years old Mr. Peters said that he had heard enough about it, which is difficult for people who are "fit, smart, at the top of their art and with all the experience gained in the field".

And if you think that his political days are counted in the ballot box for throwing his hat in the ring with the Labor Party, rather than National, as one of his supporters said on air, forget about it . He told the interlocutor that internal polls showed that National was behind Labor, returning to the 1930s when New Zealand First had reached its highest rating in 23 years.

Yeah, we'll believe it when we see public polls

But Peters, more than most political leaders, has good reason to feel frustrated by the constant carp that it should not be where it is today, the ignorance of the callers who say that he is holding the country to ransom.

Peters suffered more like the listener who told him, 10 years ago, that he was a despicable political prostitute and expressed the hope that he would soon be assigned to the trash can of history

. Well, he was not there and, whether he likes it or not, he is there because that's what the electorate gave, that's what it is what is called the mixed proportional electoral system that makes it almost impossible for the major parties to order an outrig

The system has been in place for 22 years and it is high time that voters get used to it – rather than to take a look at what was a legitimate outcome of the elections – and take a little time to think about what powerful party has managed to achieve over the years.