CNN –
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has admitted his Labor Party lost Saturday’s election as voters punished the government and moved the country to the right, nine months after the sudden resignation of his predecessor Jacinda Ardern.
The rising cost of living dominated New Zealanders’ election campaign, which ended Labor’s six-year rule. The second half of this was marked by the country’s strict response to the coronavirus pandemic, which successfully kept infections low but hurt the economy.
After 90% of votes were counted on Saturday evening, the center-right National Party, led by former airline executive Christopher Luxon, had received around 40% of the ballots, CNN affiliates RNZ and Newshub reported.
A dejected Hipkins told his supporters that Labor did not have enough votes to form a government.
“The result tonight is one that none of us wanted,” he said, according to RNZ. “I did everything I could to turn the tide of history, but unfortunately it wasn’t enough.”
Luxon said New Zealanders had “voted for change” and his party would now get to work trying to form a coalition.
“Tonight you have given us the task of moving New Zealand forward,” he told his supporters.
Coalitions are the norm in New Zealand’s mixed-member proportional representation system, introduced in 1996.
The nationalist NZ First Party and its leader Winston Peters could potentially become kingmakers in a coalition government alongside the libertarian, right-wing Act Party.
The only party to win a majority of votes and govern alone in the current political system was Labor in 2020, when Ardern won a landslide second term thanks to its success in dealing with the country’s coronavirus outbreak.
But Ardern unexpectedly announced her resignation in January, saying she no longer had enough fuel in the tank to fight an election, and handed the reins of her party to Hipkins.
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New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins in Parliament on July 26 in Wellington, New Zealand.
A progressive global icon, Ardern’s time in power has been marked by multiple crises, including the Christchurch terror attack, a deadly volcanic explosion and a global pandemic.
She became famous abroad as a leader who was unafraid to show empathy and compassion at a time when populist demagogues were coming to the fore in many other Western democracies.
But at home, their popularity waned amid rising living costs, housing shortages and economic fears. And she faced violent anti-lockdown protests in the capital Wellington, where threats were made against her.
Ardern’s successor as Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins, inherited these problems, which have since been exacerbated by a sluggish economy, a historically high inflation rate of 6% and… a balance sheet deficit that has worried ratings agencies.
Hagen Hopkins/Getty Images
Christopher Luxon, leader of the New Zealand National Party, speaks during a National Party election rally on October 10 in Wellington, New Zealand.
It is the first election in New Zealand after the end of strict coronavirus lockdown measures that have caused strife for many. The government’s “tough and early” approach to tackling the pandemic led to New Zealand imposing some of the world’s strictest border rules, separating families and barring almost all foreigners for almost two years.
This meant New Zealand suffered far fewer Covid infections and deaths compared to many countries such as the United States or the United Kingdom. However, many residents felt that the government was implementing its measures too strictly.
“They’d be damned if they did and damned if they didn’t,” said Alex Wareham, a bartender from Auckland, who added because people “didn’t have the human toll to focus on, think about.” “They said our economy was ruined.” The country was locked down.”
“It was always going to be a defeat for Labor no matter how you look at it… but it seems a national government during the coronavirus crisis would have done the same,” she said.
Saturday’s election came on the same day Australian voters rejected the first attempted constitutional change in 24 years that would have recognized Indigenous people in the country’s founding document.
All major New Zealand parties committed to improving the economy, alleviating the cost of living crisis, creating jobs and improving health and education facilities and housing.
At the heart of National’s 100-day plan is the promise of countless tax cuts, including cutting a regional fuel tax. She also promises to change the Reserve Bank’s mandate to focus on inflation, cut so-called red tape for businesses, expand free breast cancer screenings, crack down on crime, give police more powers to search gang members, and a host of things gang members to withdraw policies that Labor has implemented over the last six years.
Labor’s measures include extending free dental care to under-30s, cushioning rising food prices by abolishing the goods and services tax on fruit and vegetables, teaching financial literacy in schools and expanding free early education as well expanding financial support for working families.
Hipkins, 44, was first elected to parliament in 2008 and led the country’s Covid-19 policy in 2020. Before becoming Prime Minister, he served as Education Minister, Police Minister, Civil Service Minister and Leader of the House of Representatives.
His campaign was briefly hampered by a positive Covid-19 diagnosis at a critical time just two weeks before the election, which prevented him from traveling for five days.
Luxon, 53, is a businessman and former CEO of Air New Zealand who became leader of the National Party in 2021. Before becoming leader of the opposition, he was a party spokesman for various government departments and a member of several special committees.
On the ballot paper, the voter receives two votes: one for a candidate in his or her constituency and one for the party. To win a seat in Parliament, a party needs at least 5% of the vote or a winning candidate in the constituency.
To form a government, a party or coalition needs 61 of the 120 seats in New Zealand’s unicameral parliament – about 48% of the popular vote.
The official results are announced by the electoral commission approximately three weeks after the vote.