Election 2020: the one thing Jacinda Ardern didn’t say in her acceptance speech

LAST CHOICE
* It’s a red sea! Labor comes to victory and can govern with only 97% of the votes counted
* Jacinda Ardern praises historic victory, promises to rule for “all New Zealanders”
* Judith Collins crushed, says she has congratulated Ardern on an “outstanding result”
* National Deputy Leader Gerry Brownlee among the list of high profile Native MPs who have lost electorate seats in a night of misery – just 27% of the vote
* NZ First and Winston Peters out of Parliament with only 2.6%
* Chloe Swarbrick of the Greens wins Auckland Central in one of the biggest upsets of the night

Jacinda Ardern gave a hilarious victory speech after a landslide victory.

There were many thanks and there was talk about New Zealanders moving forward together.

But there was something he missed: any mention of the Greens.

It is the first time since 1996, and the first time under the MMP that a political party has had the numbers at this stage to govern alone, without having to form a coalition with a minor party.

Despite this, Labor can still join forces with the Greens this time.

But Labor’s resounding victory, with a projected 64 seats in the 120-seat parliament, means Ardern has options up his sleeve.

It is not surprising then that he did not speak of the Greens or any type of coalition in his speech.

Speaking later in the evening, Ardern kept his cards close to his chest and said that election night was not the night to discuss such matters.

Certainly the Greens would not be in a good position to negotiate and would have a hard time demanding too much.

But Labor may not want to be too conceited. Many commentators believe this could be a high point for Labor. In the upcoming 2023 elections, they may need a coalition partner to govern.

They may want to keep the Greens on their side, even if they don’t strictly need them right now.

Ardern came to Auckland City Hall to jubilant scenes and joined his partner Clarke Gayford and fellow Labor MPs on stage.

“Tonight New Zealand has shown the Labor Party its strongest support in at least 50 years,” he told his supporters.

She acknowledged voters who had changed allegiance to National.

“For those of you who may not have supported Labor before … I thank you. We will not take your support for granted.”

He said Labor would be a party that works for “all New Zealanders.”

The work was committed to key infrastructure, 100% electricity renewal, the environment, and supporting people at risk.

“In the next three years there is a lot of work to do. We will rebuild better from the Covid crisis; stronger with responses to the [things] New Zealand is already facing it. “

Ardern did not want to say if he still intended to invite the Green Party into government, or what role they might play. He said that many voters who had never voted for the Labor Party before had done so to give the party the ability to act quickly to address the problems that Covid-19 had left behind.

“They’ve done it because they want us to move forward, they want us to move forward quickly and quickly in recovery. They don’t want too much complexity, so I’ll take all of that into account in the work that we do in the future.”

Green co-leader Marama Davidson congratulated Ardern on “an extraordinary victory” and said the Greens hoped to be part of a “strong and truly progressive government.”