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WELLINGTON: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s center-left Labor Party scored a landslide victory in New Zealand’s general election on Saturday (October 17) when voters rewarded her for a decisive response to COVID-19.
The term means the 40-year-old Ardern could form the first one-party government in decades and face the challenge of delivering on the progressive transformation he promised but failed to achieve in his first term, where Labor shared power with a nationalist party. .
“New Zealand has shown the Labor Party its strongest support in almost 50 years,” Ardern told supporters after his landslide victory.
“We will not take your support for granted. And I can promise you that we will be a governing party for all New Zealanders,” he said.
Labor was on track to win 64 of the 120 seats in the country’s unicameral parliament, the highest of any party since New Zealand adopted a proportional voting system in 1996.
If Labor wins more than half the seats, Ardern could form the first one-party government under the current system.
“This is a historic change,” said political commentator Bryce Edwards of Victoria University in Wellington, describing the vote as one of the biggest changes in New Zealand’s electoral history in 80 years.
READ: Comment: Jacinda Ardern’s transformation is almost complete
Judith Collins, leader of the National Opposition Party, said she had called the prime minister to congratulate her.
“To Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, whom I have telephoned, congratulations on her result because it is, I believe, an outstanding result for the Labor Party,” Collins said in a televised address.
Labor won 49 percent of the vote, well ahead of National with 27 percent, the Election Commission said, with 77 percent of the votes counted in an election that was largely a referendum on aggressive driving. of Ardern from COVID-19.
“People were very grateful and very happy with the way we handle COVID, they like the shape of the plan that we have from here on for the economy,” said Finance Minister Grant Robertson, a senior Labor MP.
Geoffrey Miller, an analyst for the political website Democracy Project, said the victory was “a personal triumph for the popularity and branding of Jacinda Ardern’s ‘superstar’.”
Of the current Ardern coalition partners, the First Nationalist Party of New Zealand had 2.6% and the Green Party had 7.6%. If he cannot form a Labor-only government, he is expected to continue to rely on the lesser Greens as he disposes of New Zealand First.
A Labor-Green coalition would be the first fully left-wing government since the 1970s, a scenario that National’s Collins warned would mean more taxes and a hostile environment for business.
Ardern has pledged to raise taxes on the highest earners, while Collins promised short-term tax cuts, but they have otherwise shown few major differences in policy.
“BE STRONG, BE KIND”
The prime minister received worldwide acclaim for her handling of a mass shooting last year by a white supremacist in Christchurch, with her inclusive mantra “be strong, be kind” and swift action to ban guns.
She polished that reputation this year with a “go hard, go early” approach to the novel coronavirus, which has eliminated the local spread of COVID-19 in the nation.
The election was delayed a month after new COVID-19 infections in Auckland that led to a second shutdown in the country’s largest city.
READ: Ardern vows to resign if he loses New Zealand election
While internationally known for promoting progressive causes such as women’s rights and social justice, at home Ardern faced criticism because her government failed to deliver on its promise to be transformative.
Life has returned to normal in New Zealand, but its borders are still closed, its tourism sector is bleeding, and economists predict a lasting recession after the harsh blockades.
The economy contracted at an annual rate of 12.2 percent in the second quarter, its steepest decline since the Great Depression. Debt is projected to rise to 56% of gross domestic product from less than 20% before the pandemic.
New Zealanders also voted in referenda on Saturday to legalize euthanasia and recreational marijuana, with the results to be announced on October 30.
This latest vote could make New Zealand the third country in the world to allow the use and sale of cannabis by adults across the country, after Uruguay and Canada.
