The New Zealand government is moving to the right. On Saturday there was a massive vote for a change of government. Before all the votes were counted, the incumbent centre-left Prime Minister Chris Hipkins announced that he was conceding his defeat. He congratulated Conservative Christopher Luxon, leader of the National Party, who will become the new Prime Minister.
Luxon’s party had about 40 percent of the votes on Saturday afternoon, according to the country’s electoral commission accounting for 50 of the 120 seats in parliament. He will probably want to form a coalition with the ACT, which is likely to get 9 percent of the vote. The two parties together have a small majority in parliament; they can still involve the populist New Zealand First party in a coalition.
The National Party was in opposition until before the elections. In his campaign, Luxon focused on reducing the national debt and combating high inflation. From a party party in Auckland, he promised “our government will deliver for every New Zealander.” the newspaper reports New Zealand Herald.
The big loser is the current ruling party Labor, which is heading for 34 seats, a loss of 31 compared to the previous election result. The Social Democrats led several governments in New Zealand. Since 2017, Jacinda Ardern has been the party leader, followed by Hipkins. Ardern was the country’s first female prime minister, and very popular when she took office: she led the party to a total election victory in 2020. She herself was also regarded as a progressive figurehead worldwide. But in the intervening years, Labor lost popularity again, partly because people disagreed with the very strict measures during the pandemic and because of economic developments.
Ardern announced her departure as prime minister and party leader at the beginning of this year, and Hipkins took over her role. He stated on Saturday afternoon that the provisional election results already sufficiently indicated that Labor “is not now in the position to form a government again”.