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- Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won a landslide victory in the New Zealand general election.
- With two-thirds of the votes counted, Ardern’s center-left Labor Party was at 49.2 percent.
- While the count has not been finalized, the numbers were enough for opposition leader Judith Collins to relent after calling Ardern.
Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern scored a landslide victory in New Zealand’s general election on Saturday, building on the success in the battle against Covid-19 to gain an unprecedented outright majority and the opportunity to implement her reform agenda.
With two-thirds of the votes counted, Ardern’s center-left Labor Party was at 49.2 percent and is forecast to take about 64 seats in the 120-member parliament.
No leader has achieved an absolute majority since New Zealand adopted a proportional voting system in 1996, leading to a succession of multi-party governments.
While the count has not been finalized, the numbers were enough for opposition leader Judith Collins to relent after calling Ardern.
“Congratulations on your result because it is, I think, an outstanding result for the Labor Party. It has been a difficult campaign,” Collins told supporters in Auckland.
His conservative National Party was expected to win around 35 seats in what appears to be its worst result in nearly 20 years.
Ardern’s performance topped pre-election opinion polls and put Labor on the path to its best performance since 1946.
Party chairwoman Claire Szabo praised the charismatic leader’s campaign, which sparked a wave of support dubbed “Jacinda-mania” when she took over the party in 2017 as it languished in polls.
“There is no doubt that the great and strong leadership that we have had from Jacinda Ardern has been a huge factor in all of this,” he told NZ.
Ardern had dubbed the vote “Covid’s choice” and campaigned on his government’s success in eliminating community transmission of the virus, which has caused just 25 deaths in a population of five million.
The pandemic is just one in a series of crises that displayed Ardern’s leadership qualities during a torrid first term.
She showed empathy and decisive action on gun control after a white supremacist gunman killed 51 Muslim worshipers in the attack on Christchurch mosques last year.
Ardern again found himself comforting a shocked nation when a volcanic eruption on White Island, also known as Whakaari, killed 21 people and left dozens more with horrific burns.
“No matter what crisis comes my way, you will always have the assurance that I will give my all for this job, even if it means a great sacrifice,” he said this week.
Ardern faced criticism during his first term for failing to deliver on some key promises, such as improving housing affordability and fighting child poverty.
Greens co-leader Marama Davidson, whose party ruled in coalition with Labor during the first term, said the prime minister now has a mandate to implement change.
“I want to congratulate Jacinda Ardern and her team for an extraordinary victory,” he said.
“The results show how much New Zealanders want a truly progressive and strong government.”
Collins focused on the specter of Greens forcing Ardern to adopt a wealth tax aimed at the aspiring middle class.
But their attacks failed to find traction and the party appears to be far below the vote it recorded in the last elections in 2017.
The conservative leader, known as “Crusher” for her hard-line policies when she was a police minister in a previous government, has vowed to remain leader regardless of the outcome.
Approximately 3.5 million people are registered to vote, and 1.9 million, or more than half, cast their votes early, a much higher number than in previous elections.
The vote was originally set for September 19, but was delayed by a virus outbreak in Auckland that has now been contained.
Collins, who took over the National Party in July after a period of turmoil when the party had three leaders in three months, said the false start had cost him the momentum of his campaign.
Voters also voted in two referendums, one on the legalization of recreational cannabis and the other on the legalization of euthanasia, although the results of those votes will not be known until October 30.
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