2020 Election: National Party Leader Judith Collins Says ‘No Bloodshed’, Blames Loss Directly On ‘Covid Tsunami’

National Party leader Judith Collins says “there will be no bloodshed” and vows to remain leader by blaming Saturday night’s devastating electoral defeat directly on the “Covid tsunami.”

Labor delivered one of its best results in history, getting more than 49 percent of the preliminary result, meaning it could win 64 seats and be able to rule alone, the first time for a solo party in the MMP era.

By contrast, National received just over 25 percent, its second-worst result in history and the worst since 2002, losing 15 electorates and 20 deputies.

Collins told Mike Hosking of Newstalk ZB that she would stay as leader, despite knowing that some in the party did not support her and had caused problems during the campaign.

“I’m not into this vengeful thing, bloodshed.

“I think when the team has a good chance to win, they recover and behave, and what we saw was that most people did the right thing, they worked so hard and they were totally supportive.

“But times of stress can be opportunities to show character and some make mistakes.

“In general, it will make me sad to see people lose their jobs.”

When he took over the leadership, he knew it would be an “incredible journey.”

“It has been complete and I am happy to provide the required leadership.”

National’s result was close to the 25 percent that Labor got in 2014 with David Cunliffe.

Cunliffe barely lasted a day, yet Collins promises to stay in the role.

“I am not going to resign, I am not personally there for the glory of the leader of the Opposition, I do not think there is any glory in that. I do not think there is any movement underway, I am very focused on 2023.”

Personally, he felt “good” despite the great loss.

“We did everything we could do … sometimes you just need to keep going. Get up and move on.

“I’m hoping to get hit by something, but I’m not [feeling it]. I was in rugby yesterday and I thought that was the kind of result we wanted. “

While his leadership problems, which changed three times in four months, “didn’t help,” Collins attributed the loss directly to the “Covid tsunami.”

“We did the right thing to at least present a credible economic plan, it made no sense to talk about Covid because every time it made people more scared about their health.

“But it will be nice to have a review on what went wrong and what went right.”