Former New Zealand prime minister Sir John Key has suggested he would have voted for Donald Trump in the 2016 US election, and far-right president Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil’s 2022 elections, had he been eligible to do so.
Key, who served three terms as prime minister from 2008 to 2016, revealed his preferences in a quick-fire round of 20 questions that featured at the end of a new online series called Both Sides Now, hosted by members of the Labour and National youth wings.
The show travels around New Zealand to interview former and current politicians, with the goal to “break down political polarisation” and bring “both sides of key issues to the people”.
Key is broadly considered one of the country’s most popular prime ministers, and led the National party for 10 years before announcing his retirement from politics in 2016. He is still considered an influential political figure and is regularly called upon as a high-profile voice on politics and other matters in the media.
At the end of the Both Sides Now episode, the hosts ask a quick-fire round of 20 questions to find out Key’s positions on both global and domestic topics, including: whether the world should have nuclear weapons, if they believe te reo Māori (Māori language) should be compulsory in schools, and whether the nickname ‘Cindy’ for current prime minister, Jacinda Ardern, is derogatory.
When asked whether he would have voted “Clinton or Trump” had he been in the US in 2016, Key replied: “Trump. But I mean, you know, I’m a right-wing voter, I’m never voting left.”
He went on to add: “I’m not saying that would be the right decision but I’m just saying that’s what I would have done.”
A host then asks – “what about Brazil – would you have voted for Bolsonaro this election?”
Key hesitates slightly, before saying “right-wing as well … yes, I think so. But some of these people are getting pretty crazy on the right, so even I might not be wanting to vote there.
“But, philosophically, I have never voted anything other than right, so I’m not going to start arguing that I’m voting left now … I don’t know whether your listeners are going to agree with that, but I’m being honest with you.”
Bolsonaro, who won power in 2018 by pledging to fight corruption, has never been shy about his disdain for the democratic process or his admiration for autocrats such as Chile’s General Augusto Pinochet.
He trails leftist rival Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva after the first round of Brazil’s presidential polls, having lost favour for his mishandling of the coronavirus pandemic, mocking mask wearing and vaccines in a country where 684,000 lives were lost to Covid-19.
A damning congressional inquiry recommended that Bolsonaro be charged with offences including crimes against humanity and charlatanism, for promoting false treatments such as hydroxychloroquine and ivermectin.
