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New Zealand’s Labour party has suffered a humbling defeat in the country’s election as early results suggested a halving of its parliamentary seats compared with Jacinda Ardern’s triumph in 2020.
With more than a third of the votes counted, the centre right National party, led by Christopher Luxon, is on course to lead the country with support from the libertarian ACT party. The coalition would hold a projected 64 seats between them in the 120-seat parliament.
The swing to the right, just three years after “Jacindamania” swept the country, exposed the fragility of a policy agenda that concentrated on issues such as climate change once rising inflation and a cost of living crisis confronted New Zealand voters.
Crucially, the projected result means the Nationals would not need support from the populist New Zealand First party, led by veteran politician Winston Peters, to form a government.
Chris Hipkins, who has been prime minister since Ardern stood down in January, conceded defeat early in the evening as the dimensions of Labour’s loss became clear. “I gave it my all to turn the tide of history but alas it was not enough,” he said.
Labour also lost ground to leftwing rivals including the Greens and Te Pāti Māori, which advocates for indigenous rights.
In the Auckland seat of Mount Albert, a Labour stronghold vacated by Ardern and once held by former prime minister Helen Clark, the National candidate held a narrow lead with a third of the votes counted.
Grant Robertson, finance minister, told broadcaster 1News said that his government had struggled to combat the electorate’s “time for a change” mood.
Bryce Edwards, a political analyst at Victoria University of Wellington, said the election result represented a move to vote out the incumbent Labour government rather than a successful campaign by the National party.
Edwards said that the two-term Labour government — in power for six years, half of it with an outright majority — had failed to deliver on its promise. He said the unusually large election victory in 2020 under Ardern had proved to be “a blessing and a curse” for her government: it gave a strong mandate for reform but led to a sense of complacency. “They squandered it,” Edwards said.
Hipkins was given a long run up to the election after Ardern stood down as prime minister in January. He sought to reset Labour’s policy agenda to what he called “bread and butter” issues such as the cost of living. Ardern, who had near-celebrity status as a politician on the world stage, saw her popularity evaporate domestically, with lengthy lockdowns during the Covid-19 pandemic costing her support.
Luxon said he would scrap unpopular Labour policies including the establishment of a separate health body for the Maori population. He also pledged tax cuts and a crackdown on crime.
The 53-year old, a former Air New Zealand chief executive who also worked for Unilever, is something of a blank canvas for voters given he has only served one term in parliament.
Edwards said that served the National leader well during an unconvincing election campaign because he is not seen as a career politician.
