NZ rejects cannabis legalisation in referendum, but glimmer of hope for yes camp
By a narrow margin, the cannabis legalisation and control bill has been voted down based on preliminary referendum results. There remains, however, a slim chance it could still win on special votes
Friday, October 30, 2020
On preliminary results, the cannabis legalisation and control bill will not become law, after falling short at the referendum. The Electoral Commision announced 46.1% of voters were in favour of the bill, while 53.1% of voters were against it. In raw vote totals, the difference is 167,333. Today’s results do not include a tally of almost 500,000 special votes, cast by a combination of people voting outside their electorate, New Zealanders overseas, and those who enrolled during the formal election campaign. Generally special votes lean left, which correlates with higher support for legalisation. Those special votes would need to break in favour of cannabis legalisation by a margin of more than 2-1. (NZ Drug Foundation: No vote not a vote for inaction: decriminalisation urged)
