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WELLINGTON: Winston Peters, the kingmaker who put Jacinda Ardern in power three years ago and served as her deputy prime minister, was on Saturday (October 17) a significant victim of the landslide victory of the Ardern Labor Party in the New Zealand elections.
However, the 75-year-old man who first entered parliament 41 years ago refused to say that his long and colorful political career was over.
“For any challenge it is the preparation to get up and take the challenge, win or lose, what really matters and as for the next challenge we all have to wait and see,” he told the party faithful at their meeting on election night.
Peters, popularly known only by his first name Winston or Winnie, was first elected in 1979 to represent the center-right National Party before establishing his own populist First New Zealand party 14 years later.
Yet on Saturday, New Zealand First won just 2.6 percent of the vote, well below the five percent threshold for any MP to be elected and none of its candidates won a seat in the electorate.
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After the last elections in 2017, when neither of the main parties, Labor or National, had enough seats to govern alone, Peters with nine deputies maintained the balance of power and after weeks of negotiation backed Labor from Ardern.
It was his third time as a kingmaker, providing not only support for Ardern, but also propping up the national government after the 1996 elections and Labor in 2005.
Although he once declared that, as a kingmaker, he did not seek the “trappings of office”, he has been deputy prime minister twice, served as interim prime minister, and was known on the international stage for having been foreign minister in 1996. to 1998 and the Ardern government.
“I have great respect,” Ardern said of Peters’ career.
“He has dedicated his life to public service, to parliament, and I hope he is proud of what we did in the last three years because I certainly do.”
It’s not yet clear whether Peters will return to parliament, but he was adamant that New Zealand First was still needed.
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“For 27 years there has been a party that has been prepared to challenge the establishment and challenge authority, and tonight more than ever that force is still needed,” he said, highlighting an economy devastated by COVID-19.
“Its effects have not been well analyzed, and if there is a cause for great concern it is that the nature of the economic crisis is not fully understood. This was an election that due to COVID-19 and the prolonged shutdowns, was like no other. country has never seen even in times of war. “
