Key Points
- New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins has conceded defeat in the country’s general election.
- National leader Christopher Luxon will be New Zealand’s next prime minister.
- National’s victory will unseat the Labour Party after six years in office.
Chris Hipkins has conceded the New Zealand election, won by the centre-right National opposition in a huge lurch to the right.
With 50 per cent of the preliminary vote counted, National was sitting on 41.2 per cent, with Hipkins’ Labour Party on 26 per cent.
Chris Luxon, a first-term MP and former Air New Zealand chief executive, will become the country’s prime minister.
Voters have rejected Labour’s campaign for a third term under new leader Hipkins, who succeeded former prime minister Jacinta Ardern in January.
What remains in the balance is the make-up of National’s coalition – and the scale of Labour’s devastation.
Hipkins told supporters in Wellington that despite the party’s biggest-ever grassroots campaign, “unfortunately the results tonight show that wasn’t enough”.
Hipkins: Labour ‘not in a position to form another government’
“Earlier this evening I called Christopher Luxon to congratulate him on National’s results,” he said.
“Labour is not in a position to form another government.”
Polls in the lead-up to election day suggested National would win the contest but would need support from two minor parties – ACT and New Zealand First – to govern.
Results so far suggest National might only need its preferred partner, right-wing libertarian party ACT, which sits on 9.2 per cent. That could leave Winston Peters, the wily 78-year-old populist, out in the cold of opposition despite NZ First sitting on 6.0 per cent of the vote, and on track to return to parliament.
Christopher Luxon Source: AAP / Erik Anderson
‘Battle of the Chrises’ comes to an end
The six-week election campaign – dubbed the battle of the Chrises – featured National attacking Labour’s record and Labour attacking National’s policy prescriptions.
Labour’s party vote has crashed from a record 50 per cent in 2020, with the party set to lose seats it has held for generations.
The Greens are on track to improve their vote, sitting on 10.4 per cent, but are bound for opposition given the collapse of the overall left vote.
The Maori Party is on 2.5 per cent, leading in four of the Maori electorates and on track to double its parliamentary representation.
