New Zealanders resoundingly elected a new conservative government Saturday, with incumbent Prime Minister Chris Hipkins conceding his centre-left Labour party's six years in power were over.
Hipkins, who replaced charismatic two-term leader Jacinda Ardern in January, said he was"not in a position to form a government" and had already congratulated premier-in-waiting Christopher Luxon.
The National Party and its coalition partner ACT were projected to win 62 seats with 85 percent of the vote tallied -- enough to secure a majority in New Zealand's 120-seat parliament.The election campaign had been dominated by an increasingly difficult economic situation and a spike in the cost of living that had hit New Zealanders hard.
"We will bring down the cost of living. We will restore law and order. We will deliver better health care and we will educate our children so that they can grow up to live the lives they dream of." "Things are tight for everyone. Interest rates, fuel costs all drive costs up, but I don't know what another government is going to do," he told AFP.
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