Immigration policy and immigrants in public discourse in 2019 local election in New Zealand: comparative analysis of four biggest cities situation

Abstract

The  paper  is  an  attempt  to  scrutinize  discourse  of  immigration  and  immigrants in the light of Critical Discourse Analysis during local election in New Zealand. Four biggest cities were analyzed. The hypothesis of this research was assumption that in the local election in New Zealand in 2019 immigration issue was displaced from public discourse of all analyzed political actors, despite the fact that immigration was one of the main topic of public debate and one of the most important factors that in the past influenced political behavior in New Zealand. This hypothesis was confirmed. Two auxiliary hypothesis were stated. All the research was conducted in the critical theory perspective and to the research of issue voting. Number of political phenomenon occurred, such as: political correctness, political anathema and instrumentalization of immigration issue.