Have Your Say

Unelected public officials
Jonathan Ayling’s article headlined “Democracy Cannot Mean Bypassing Voters” raises an excellent point about elected public officials being accountable to those who elect them.
However, where is the accountability if someone is not elected but is appointed on to a council or to Parliament so that they can vote for issues that concern only themselves. What happens when it comes to issues that don’t concern them?
Doesn’t this dilute the democratic process? No matter how worthy the cause a certain section of the community may seem to champion, it should not be equal to or hold precedence over the views of the majority.
This is the cornerstone of democracy and should be guarded; otherwise, there is a danger that a country’s political scene will dissolve into a rule by a fractured minority. MMP is close to doing this anyway. The answer to all this could be to have unelected representatives, with expertise on specialist issues, being invited to present their case when needed.

This is so that elected representatives can make informed decisions and cast their vote accordingly. As Ayling points out, if unelected officials can vote, then this redefines democracy and not in a good way. It also begs the question, what happens to badly performing unelected officials at the next election? Who gets rid of them?

A letter to the editor.NZ Herald

𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍’𝐒 𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐈𝐍𝐄𝐓 𝐕𝐎𝐓𝐄𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐀𝐑𝐑𝐄𝐒𝐓 𝐀𝐍𝐃 𝐃𝐄𝐏𝐎𝐑𝐓 𝐀𝐋𝐋 𝐈𝐑𝐆𝐂 𝐌𝐄𝐌𝐁𝐄𝐑𝐒 — 𝐈𝐑𝐀𝐍’𝐒 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐗𝐘 𝐌𝐈𝐋𝐈𝐓𝐀𝐑𝐘 𝐈𝐒 𝐎𝐔𝐓 𝐎𝐅 𝐋𝐄𝐁𝐀𝐍𝐎𝐍
“𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘭 𝘰𝘧 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘴 𝘥𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘥𝘦𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘕𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯𝘢𝘭 𝘋𝘦𝘧𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘦, 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘔𝘪𝘯𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘪𝘰𝘳, 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘢𝘭𝘭 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘢𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘵𝘰 𝘦𝘯𝘴𝘶𝘳𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘶𝘳𝘨𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘮𝘮𝘦𝘥𝘪𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘪𝘯𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘱𝘳𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘺 𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘪𝘵𝘺, 𝘮𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘢𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘳 𝘴𝘦𝘤𝘶𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘢𝘺 𝘵𝘢𝘬𝘦 𝘱𝘭𝘢𝘤𝘦 𝘧𝘳𝘰𝘮 𝘓𝘦𝘣𝘢𝘯𝘦𝘴𝘦 𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘳𝘪𝘵𝘰𝘳𝘺 — 𝘸𝘩𝘢𝘵𝘦𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘤𝘩𝘢𝘳𝘢𝘤𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘰𝘳 𝘤𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘢𝘳𝘦 𝘸𝘰𝘳𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 — 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘵𝘰 𝘴𝘵𝘰𝘱 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘴𝘶𝘱𝘦𝘳𝘷𝘪𝘴𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘚𝘱𝘦𝘤𝘪𝘢𝘭 𝘊𝘰𝘶𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘰 𝘥𝘦𝘱𝘰𝘳𝘵 𝘵𝘩𝘦𝘮.”
Lebanon’s Information Minister Paul Morcos read that formal cabinet decision on March 5, 2026. Lebanon’s Council of Ministers voted unanimously to ban all Iranian Revolutionary Guard Corps activity on Lebanese soil and to initiate the arrest and deportation of every IRGC member operating there. 𝐏𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐌𝐢𝐧𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐫 𝐍𝐚𝐰𝐚𝐟 𝐒𝐚𝐥𝐚𝐦 𝐬𝐢𝐦𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐚𝐧𝐞𝐨𝐮𝐬𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐯𝐢𝐬𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐫𝐞𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐬 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐚𝐧 𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥𝐬 — closing an open-door policy Tehran had exploited for decades to rotate IRGC personnel in and out of the country without scrutiny.
𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜 𝐥𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐮𝐚𝐠𝐞 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐬𝐭𝐨𝐫𝐲. It does not say monitor, restrict, or negotiate with the IRGC. It says: arrest them under court supervision and deport them. And it explicitly covers “whatever character or cover they are working under” — stripping away every humanitarian mission, cultural center, and diplomatic pretext the IRGC has used to sustain its presence. Lebanon’s cabinet voted to make every cover story legally irrelevant in a single session.
PM Salam stated publicly that the IRGC had been 𝐦𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐠𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐢𝐧 𝐋𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧 and dragging the country into a regional war Lebanon did not choose and could not sustain. That is Lebanon’s elected head of government saying, on the record and in a formal cabinet session, what Israel and the United States had documented for years: Iran was not merely supporting H∗zbollah — it was directing an operational military presence on Lebanese soil under the cover of a local proxy.
For four decades, the IRGC maintained that presence because Lebanon’s government lacked the will to expel it. H∗zbollah provided the political muscle and armed deterrence that made any challenge to the IRGC’s presence effectively suicidal. That calculus changed. 𝐈𝐬𝐫𝐚𝐞𝐥’𝐬 𝟐𝟎𝟐𝟒 𝐜𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐢𝐠𝐧 𝐬𝐡𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐇∗𝐳𝐛𝐨𝐥𝐥𝐚𝐡’𝐬 𝐮𝐩𝐩𝐞𝐫 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐠𝐫𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭𝐬 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐜𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐬𝐢𝐠𝐧𝐢𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲. The Salam government emerged in the political space that created — with more room to act than any Lebanese government had in four decades.
Lebanon reinstating visa requirements for Iranian nationals is a separate but significant step — it closes the personnel pipeline Iran used to move IRGC members in and out under civilian or diplomatic cover.
𝐈𝐫𝐚𝐧 𝐬𝐩𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝟒𝟎 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐬 𝐛𝐮𝐢𝐥𝐝𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐱𝐲 𝐦𝐢𝐥𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐲 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐢𝐧𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞 𝐋𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧. 𝐋𝐞𝐛𝐚𝐧𝐨𝐧’𝐬 𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐠𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐯𝐨𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐫𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐞𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐦𝐞𝐦𝐛𝐞𝐫 𝐨𝐟 𝐢𝐭 — 𝐨𝐟𝐟𝐢𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐥𝐞𝐠𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐫𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐫𝐝.