The conservative National Party of New Zealand This Saturday he won the elections held in the oceanic country, which gave him will allow to resume after six years in the opposition the reins of the Wellington Executive.
With the scrutiny almost complete (98%), the National Party, led by Christopher Luxon, leads the count with the 39.1% of the voteswhile the center-left Labor Partyfrom the outgoing New Zealand Prime Minister, Chris Hipkinsyou get a 26.8% of the votes, according to the Electoral Commission.
Is about a radical change with respect to the 2020 electionsin which the former prime minister of New Zealand swept the leadership of the Labor Party, Jacinda Ardernwho resigned last January.
Luxon thanked “the vote for change” granted by the oceanic country, which will bring his conservative formation to power after six years in opposition.
“Tonight’s figures indicate that the National (Party) will be able to lead the next government” Luxon said in the city of Auckland before a crowd of supporters chanting “Back on track,” according to New Zealand public broadcaster TVNZ.
“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 its 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 supportand end six years of Labor government, which saw its charismatic leader Jacinda Arden – who won a landslide victory in 2020, with nearly 50% of the vote – resign at the beginning of the year, leaving Hipkins in charge.
The ultra-liberal ACT formation, which in principle would form an alliance with the conservatives in a minority government, wins 9% of the ballotswhile Labour’s traditional allies, the Green Party and the Maori Party present 10.8% and 2.6%respectively.
The nationalist NZ First Party currently obtains 6.5% of the votes.
This means that the conservatives could form an alliance to govern with a weak majorityin contrast to the historic victory that Arden achieved in 2020, although they will not have to initially resort to NZ First as predicted.
Luxon, supporter of a tough line against street gangshas 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.
More than 3.8 million New Zealanders cast their vote this Saturday in more than 2,300 polling stations throughout the country between 9:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. (20:00 GMT on Friday and 06:00 GMT on Saturday), although nearly a million had already done so in advance.
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.
