2020 election results: Winston Peters has ‘left a great legacy’, says Jacinda Ardern

Jacinda Ardern says Winston Peters has “left a great legacy” as an outgoing New Zealand first MP says she does not know what the future holds for the party or its leader.

New Zealand First is out of Parliament, after getting 2.7% of preliminary results, and now the focus is on whether 2020 was Peters’ last campaign.

Any withdrawal could end NZ First as a political force, given how closely linked the populist party is to its founding leader.

When asked about today’s result, Ardern said his thoughts were with the “good people” at NZ First he had worked with for the past three years.

“I think he has left a great legacy,” she said of Peters, saying she had texted him and hoped to speak with him soon.

Ardern said he hoped Peters could find a way to deliver the equivalent of a farewell speech. He was asked if Peters could be knighted, and he said the honors process was never publicly discussed, anyway.

Jones confronted the media outside the Duke of Marlborough in Russell, where NZ First held its function last night, and said he had “no doubt” that Peters would remain the lead.

“Our Rangatira Winston is tough, she is tenacious, and I am sure that when the time comes she will tell you exactly how she feels.

“And it is up to the board and our Rangatira Winston to determine and chart the way forward. But look, today is possibly a red tide day. But there is a lot of red ink on our path economically speaking.”

Longtime NZ First member Tracey Martin who held ministerial positions last term, told the Herald she doesn’t know what the future holds.

“Winston is obviously the master of his own destiny, and he has been a formidable force in New Zealand politics. But I honestly don’t know,” said Martin, who hopes to work with her husband on making their wines. . deal.

“NZ First is the political party for me. If it doesn’t exist, well then I have other things to do with my life. But it turns out that I think a centrist party like New Zealand First should be in the mix.”

Martin said the process for the party could be similar to that of 2008, when a few months after NZ First left Parliament, the party chairman called a special general meeting, and representatives asked if they wanted NZ First to keep running and, if so, how would it make a comeback.

Was there a party without Peters? “The reality for NZ First is that we have not tried yet. But that will also be a question for the party.”

The Covid-19 pandemic hit NZ First’s 2020 campaign and took immigration levels out of the spotlight, given the country’s closed borders.

Peters tried to differentiate NZ First from Labor and criticized elements of Covid’s response, saying his party would have brought in the military earlier to sort out the quarantine facilities and opened limited travel with Australia.

It ran both with what NZ First had stopped (a capital gains tax, for example) and what it had insured (the huge provincial growth fund, for example).

Martin, who said that her work as Minister for Children and efforts to improve the way Oranga Tamariki operated was something she was proud of during her time in politics, told the Herald that the campaign strategy could have been better.

“I don’t think Covid can be ruled out, because it has been the most important topic that we have all talked about this year. I certainly believe that the leadership that the Prime Minister and the Coalition Government has shown, during this time, New Zealanders they have appreciated it.

“I think the opposition made a mistake, and I think we, too, made a mistake in trying to attack what was a really good record, and a prime minister who had earned the trust of New Zealanders during a pandemic.”

Who is to blame for that? “I don’t know, I wasn’t part of the strategy team there, sorry, so I don’t know whose idea it was.”

Jones said that what was in front of NZ First was “very different” from three years ago, when it maintained the balance of power and finally chose to form a government with Labor, installing Jacinda Ardern as prime minister.

“The party leadership, we will regroup and work on the different paths to follow.”

Jones had not spoken to the other outgoing MPs from the party, “given that I had about a gallon of red wine last night,” and chose his words carefully when asked about caucus member Jenny Marcroft who appeared last night at the function. of the Labor Party.

“It kind of reminds me of that leadership race, when I faced David Cunliffe and Grant Roberston. And I remember my other teammate Phil Twyford getting to both sides, sadly not mine.

“What I would say is that Jenny is a private citizen and is no longer a member of Parliament, and what she does and how she does it is up to her.”

Labor’s performance in rural squares left him “astonished.”

“Let’s face it, there was a red tsunami, and the public was obviously tuned in to all the Korean covid, and the forces that are more right … it was not an evening for us.

“All the people who have been complaining and complaining about me, and complaining about the effects of government policies, now I will tell you to go to Matt King.”

On his own future, Jones said it was not easy to maintain a political life when he was not in Parliament, but that those questions would be resolved at another time. The policy was “to chart a course, depending on the weather,” he said, and “the weather will change.”

In a short speech last night, Peters said his party had a long and proud history of challenging the establishment, and “tonight more than ever, that force is still needed.”

However, Peters was coy about his next move: “As for the next challenge, we’ll all have to wait and see.”

Peters’ campaign began after an undisclosed illness and a surgical procedure, and was haunted by an investigation by the Serious Fraud Office into the NZ First Foundation, an entity created to handle donations.

Two people are facing charges, it was announced late last month (with names suppressed, and not current MPs, candidates, or party members), a moment Peters criticized as a “James Comey-level misjudgment,” and NZ First requested a statement from the Superior Court the OFS abused its powers.

Other NZ First MPs now out of Parliament include Fletcher Tabuteau, Tracey Martin, Ron Mark, Darroch Ball, Mark Patterson, Clayton Mitchell and Marcroft.

NZ First / Winston Peters Milestones

1979: Winston Peters is elected national deputy for Hunua. He lost the seat in 1981.

1984: Peters wins the Tauranga electorate for National.

1990: He is appointed Minister for Maori Affairs, but is fired by Jim Bolger in 1991 for criticizing the leadership.

1992: Expelled from the National Party caucus for defying the party’s leadership.

1993: Peters resigns from Parliament, forcing a by-election in Tauranga in February, which he wins as an independent. NZ First launch on July 18 at Alexandra Park race track.

1993: Tauranga wins in the general election and Tau Henare wins the Northern Maori and becomes a MP, giving way to the first two MPs from New Zealand.

nineteen ninety six: The party wins 17 seats in the MMP’s first election, including the five Maori seats. He enters the coalition with National, led by Jim Bolger, with nine New Zealand Prime Ministers and Peters as Treasurer and Deputy Prime Minister.

1998: After a coup against Bolger in 1997, Prime Minister Jenny Shipley fires Peters and he ends the coalition. Eight NZ First deputies desert to stay with the National Government.

1999: NZ First gets 4.3 percent, but Peters maintains his seat in Tauranga with just 63 votes and the party survives with five MPs.

2002: NZ First gets 10.4 percent of the vote and 13 seats, including Peters’ older brother Jim.

2005: Peters loses Tauranga to Bob Clarkson of National, but gets 5.7 percent of the party’s votes and 7 MPs. He enters into a trust and supply agreement with the Labor government of Helen Clark with Peters as foreign minister.

2008: Peters is removed from ministerial duties during donation investigations. The Privilege Committee sanctions Peters for failing to report Owen Glenn’s donation. National leader John Key rules out a deal with Peters. NZ First gets 4.07 percent in elections and is out of Parliament for three years while National rules.

2011: NZ First obtains 6.6% in the elections and returns with 8 deputies. New Zealand’s first MP, Brendan Horan, is later expelled over a dispute over his mother’s will, but remains in Parliament as an Independent.

2014: The party returns to Parliament with 8.66% and 11 deputies, but without a seat in the electorate. Nacional obtains third term.

2015: Peters wins Northland by election, thus earning an additional deputy on the roster, bringing the total to 12.

2017: Peters loses Northland but the party returns to Parliament with 7.2 percent and nine MPs, maintaining the balance of power. Elect a Labor-led government with Jacinda Ardern as Prime Minister, Peters as Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister, and three other Prime Ministers from New Zealand’s Cabinet.

2018: Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern takes six weeks off to have a baby, leaving Peters as acting prime minister.

2020: NZ First and Peters out of Parliament, after winning 2.7 percent of the preliminary vote.