Voters have ousted the party once led by Jacinda Ardern and elected the country’s most right-wing government in a generation.
After an election campaign of fits and starts, in which neither major party appeared to offer much solace to a weary nation, voters in New Zealand have ousted the party once led by Jacinda Ardern and elected the country’s most right-wing government in a generation, handing victory to a coalition of two conservative parties., whose centre-right National Party will lead a coalition with Act, a smaller libertarian party.
“She’s probably the most consequential prime minister we’ve had since David Lange , and, from an international point of view, most charismatic,” said Bernard Hickey, an economic and political commentator in Auckland. “But this election is the landmark of her failure.” New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, centre, speaks to media after conceding defeat at a party event in Wellington, on Saturday night.The National Party won 39 per cent of the vote, up from 26 per cent in 2020. Among the smaller parties, the Green Party took 11 per cent of the vote, and Act won 9 per cent. But those results could shift slightly after “special” votes were counted, including those of overseas New Zealanders.
The new National-led government, despite being more conservative, was unlikely to make significant changes on many social issues, said Ben Thomas, a former press secretary for the National Party. He added: “What you might broadly call racial tensions – over race and policy, Maori policy, Treaty policy – are greater than at any point since 2005.”
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