Prime Minister Helen Clark continued to play games with the media yesterday about the timing of the election.
The last possible date for the election is November 15 and National Party MP Gerry Brownlee claimed at the weekend that Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton had let slip that November 15 was the date.
Pressed to reveal the election timing, Miss Clark said she had a date in mind but she was not sharing it with the reporters attending her post-cabinet press conference.
Various questions were asked to try and get an indication of the timing, but to no avail.
All Miss Clark would do was refer everyone to the legislation which dictated all things electorally, and recommend they work back from any date they cared to try.
Parliament will go into urgency today and remain in urgency until Friday evening, as the Government seeks to enact legislation crucial to its election campaign.
The emissions trading scheme is at the top of the Government's list of legislation it wants passed.
However, there were other Bills the Government wanted passed and that Leader of the House Michael Cullen would announce today, Miss Clark said.
Other legislation to be passed could include the Real Estates Agents, the Policing and the Biofuels Bills.
There is a general expectation in Wellington that Parliament will end for the year next week, with final business and valedictory speeches seeing out a busy last session.
Miss Clark would not even confirm that Parliament would end next week.
Inquiries by the Otago Daily Times indicated there was plenty of time yet for Parliament to keep sitting if it needed legislation passed.
Even with a six-week campaign period, Parliament could sit through to the end of September.
