There will be a change of government in New Zealand after the general election. According to preliminary results, the clear winner is the conservative National Party with its top candidate Christopher Luxon. After counting more than 80 percent of the votes, the party has around 40 percent and 51 parliamentary seats, as the electoral commission announced.
To form a government, at least 61 of the 120 seats in parliament are required. Luxon, 53, is therefore likely to rely on a coalition with the right-wing liberal party ACT, which has around nine percent of the vote. The previous Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, 45, from the social democratic Labor Party admitted his defeat in the evening. “As things stand, Labor will not be able to form a government,” he said. His party is the big loser of the vote. According to calculations, she received around 26 percent of the vote and thus lost half of her previous mandates in parliament.
Hipkins became prime minister in January after his world-famous predecessor Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly resigned from office. At the time, Ardern emphasized that she no longer had the strength to continue leading the country. The charismatic politician made a name for herself thanks to her sensitive crisis management, for example after the fatal attacks on two mosques in Christchurch and during the corona pandemic. However, it was also controversial in its own country because of its tough pandemic policy. In 2020, Labor had achieved an absolute majority under her. Since then, however, the party has lost support, partly because of the rapidly rising cost of living in the country.
The outcome of the election was less close than the polls had previously suggested. According to the figures, Luxon does not need a difficult alliance with the populist anti-immigration party New Zealand First in order to govern. Due to the sharp rise in the cost of living, especially in the area of food, many New Zealanders are now hoping for reforms in economic policy.
There were no exact figures on voter turnout, but it was likely high. There were sometimes long queues in front of the polling stations on Saturday. Around 3.8 million citizens were called to the polls. Voting has been possible since October 2nd, and around a million people took advantage of this offer before election day.