Jacinda Ardern won a landslide victory in the New Zealand election, with a second term as Prime Minister secured less than three hours after the ballot closed
Nearly 2 million people had voted before election day – just under two-thirds of the electorate – in a poll dominated by the COVID-19 pandemic
The 40-year-old Prime Minister called the election a referendum on her government’s handling of the pandemic and who New Zealanders should trust to lead the economic recovery
With 966% of the vote counted on Saturday night, New Zealand Labor had won 49% of the vote and the Election Commission expected to win 64 seats in the 120-member Parliament
Ardern took the win and thanked New Zealanders for showing « the Labor Party’s greatest support for at least 50 years »
« We have seen that in urban and rural areas and at seats we could have hoped for and also at those we maybe did not expect, » she said
« This is our chance to build an economy that works for all, to continue to create decent jobs, tackle poverty and inequality, turn all uncertainty and hard times into hope and optimism «
Opposition Leader Judith Collins admitted defeat and praised Ardern for ‘outstanding result for Labor’, but warned New Zealand was now in recession
With the IMF predicting that New Zealand will be worse off in five years than other peer countries, « [we] will need better fiscal policy than we’ve seen so far »
Based on current numbers, Ardern won’t need the Greens to form government – she can claim a majority of seats in Parliament for the first time since New Zealand switched to Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) ) in 1996 MMP requires voters to tick one box for a candidate from the local electorate and another vote for a list of party deputies
However, Labor’s vote could decline and National’s could rise as votes are counted It could take a week or more before the exact composition of Parliament is determined
What is certain is that Ardern will govern, either by majority or in coalition with the Greens
There are 72 electorate seats and 48 party list seats to be won in the election, which are allocated on a proportional basis to parties that poll more than 5%
Ardern told TV NZ she would talk to the center-left Greens about joining her party in government, after taking the night to digest her huge victory
However, she indicated that she was reluctant to cede the post of Deputy Prime Minister to the Greens
New Zealand Election Commission now predicts Maori party could win parliament seat
The party last held a seat in the beehive from 2014 to 2017, when it lost both of its seats
The two big losers in the poll were National and New Zealand First National is set to win just 35 seats on the first results – up from 56 after the 2017 poll – and 269% of the vote The First New Zealand Party of Deputy Premier Minister Winston Peters will likely lose his nine seats in Parliament, as it was expected to garner less than 5% of the vote and miss list seats
Deputy National Leader Gerry Brownlee was set to lose his seat in one of a string of extraordinary results as Labor rode a red wave to victory
Peters offered his best wishes « to those who are successful » and said « we should never stop trusting people »
Along with Labor, the winners in this election are the New Zealand Greens, which are expected to win 10 seats – an increase of two from 2017 – and the center-right ACT party, led by David Seymour, which is expected to win 10 seats, compared to one in 2017, choosing voters who deserted National and NZ First The Maori party could also return to parliament with a seat
Ardern’s victory follows a cautious election campaign in which she failed to make big promises and instead presented the delayed contest as a contest centered on New Zealanders’ confidence to lead the country to a unprecedented era
It also follows three years of an unlikely coalition government with the Greens and New Zealand first Ardern’s Labor Party won just 46 seats in the 120-seat Parliament in 2017, but , aided by the nine seats of NZ First and the eight seats of the Greens, succeeded in forming a coalition government
Since then, the Prime Minister has arguably failed to deliver on his promise to transform politics, and has had to backtrack or slow down promises to build 100,000 new homes, deliver a light rail project to Auckland and fight against child poverty
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James Massola is Southeast Asia Correspondent based in Jakarta Previously was Chief Political Correspondent, based in Canberra He was a three-time Walkley and Quills finalist, won a Kennedy Award for Foreign Correspondent exceptional and is the author of The Great Cave Rescue
New Zealand Election, Jacinda Ardern, New Zealand Election, New Zealand Election Results, New Zealand Election 2020, New Zealand Election Results, New Zealand Election Results 2020, New Zealand, Judith Collins , nz news
World News – UA – Jacinda Ardern claims huge victory in COVID-19 election in New Zealand
