2020 election: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern holds preparatory talks with the Greens, but coalition seems unlikely

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Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern held talks on The Beehive yesterday with Green Party co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson, but she is not believed to have given them any hope of governing in coalition.

Ardern and his chief of staff, Rajesh Nahna, met with Shaw, Davidson and the Green Party chief of staff, Tory Whanau, in preliminary talks.

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The goal was to talk about future talks, rather than start negotiations.

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But there is clear resistance within the Labor Party to enter into any power-sharing agreement, which involves the coalition government, when the clear mandate from Saturday’s elections was for a Labor government.

Neither Ardern nor Shaw commented yesterday, but Shaw has repeatedly made clear that the party’s preference was the total coalition, as recently as last week in an interview with the Herald.

“Obviously, it depends on the numbers and the deal,” Shaw said. “We want to keep the other options on the table but obviously the option that has the most influence is the coalition.

But in his speeches, since the election result was clear, Ardern has repeatedly referenced former National supporters who may have voted for Labor for the first time and the term Labor had won.

Ironically, some of those who switched may have been indirectly encouraged by national leader Judith Collins in the final days of the campaign with her repeated warnings about a Green Party wealth tax.

Some national voters may have thought that was much less likely if Labor didn’t need the Greens in a coalition.

Ardern has said he wants to speed up the labor policy program.

Any major political decision in the last government required the support of all three parties, Labor and New Zealand First in coalition, and the Greens, who had a trust and supply deal with Labor and three ministerial posts outside of Cabinet.

But there are several other arrangements through which the Greens could win political concessions, present budget proposals, and have influence throughout the government’s term, even if the coalition is off the table.

It may or may not involve green deputies as ministers.

Formal talks between Labor and the Greens are expected to start later in the week or even the next.

With New Zealand out of government and parliament first, Ardern can afford to promote six more Labor MPs to form a cabinet of 20.

Labor won an outright majority Saturday night with 49.1 percent of 64 MPs out of 120, 18 more than in the last election and 22 new MPs in total, including some replacing retired MPs.

7.6 percent of the Greens give him 10 deputies, two more.

Yesterday new Members of Parliament began to arrive.

Caucus meetings will be held today in what will be a mix of sweet and sour meetings.

Ardern and the Labor caucus had a celebratory dinner in Wellington last night and will squeeze into their old caucus room for the last time.

The caucus is now so large that the billiard room of Parliament is likely to become a new government caucus room.

The National caucus will be a grim affair this morning as retiring MPs and those who lost seats in Parliament gather for the traditional silver platter ceremony – each will receive one.

The government could be formed and take office before the final results are declared on November 6.