New Zealand tilts to the right in the first general election without Jacinda Ardern, the former Labor prime minister who resigned from office in January despite having swept the last elections in 2020. The conservative National Party broke the six-year hegemony of the left on Saturday when he emerged victorious in the elections held in the oceanic country.
With the count almost complete (98%), the National Party, led by Christopher Luxon, leads the count with 39.1% of the votes, while the center-left Labor Party, of the outgoing New Zealand Prime Minister, Chris Hipkins , obtains 26.8% of the votes, according to the Electoral Commission.
Luxon thanked "the vote for change" granted by the oceanic country, which will bring his conservative formation to power after six years in opposition. "To all of you who voted for National, we are not going to disappoint you, and to all of you who have not voted for us we are not going to disappoint you either," promised Luxon, who entered Parliament three years ago, after serving as CEO of the airline. New Zealand airline Air New Zealand between 2012 and 2019.
For his part, Hipkins admitted electoral defeat and claimed to have called Luxon to congratulate him. "Unfortunately, the results show that they have not been enough," Hipkins said. "From the bottom of my heart, thank you very much," he conveyed to his fellow believers, in a speech reported by Radio New Zealand.
These results exceeded the forecasts, which gave the National Party 34% of support, and put an end to six years of Labor government, which saw its charismatic leader Jacinda Arden - who obtained a landslide victory in 2020, with close to 50% of the votes - resigned at the beginning of the year "due to fatigue", the management of the Covid pandemic, among other issues, wore down the politician who was a world reference in her way of governing based on empathy with her citizens. He left Hipkins in charge.
The ultra-liberal ACT party, which in principle would form an alliance with the conservatives in a minority government, wins 9% of the ballots, while Labour's traditional allies, the Green Party and the Maori Party, present the 10.8% and 2.6%, respectively. The nationalist NZ First Party currently obtains 6.5% of the vote.
This means that the Conservatives could form an alliance to govern with a weak majority, in contrast to the historic victory that Arden achieved in 2020, although they will not have to initially resort to NZ First as predicted.
Luxon, a supporter of a tough line against street gangs, has promised to reduce inflation, reduce public spending and stimulate the economy by attracting investment, with nods to Chinese capital for infrastructure and lower taxes, among other promises. "I have to tell you that crime is out of control in this country," Luxon said during the election campaign. “And we are going to restore law and order, and we are going to restore personal responsibility.”
The elections in New Zealand, with almost 5.1 million inhabitants, have been marked mainly by the impact of strong inflation (6%), crime, the climate crisis and the prominence of China in its foreign policy.
