New Zealand held a general election on October 17th, and the Labour Party, led by current Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, won a historic victory.
Labour wins first outright majority
New Zealand has adopted a mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) system since the 1996 election. The 120 seats in the parliament are allocated proportionally based on the number of votes received by political parties, but priority is given to candidates who win in the single-member districts.
For the first time since the system was introduced, the Labour Party won an outright majority.
This New Zealand election was the first in the world to be held during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is no exaggeration to say that the results of this election will reflect the public's evaluation of the government's response to the pandemic.
New Zealand has been able to keep the number of confirmed cases and deaths from the coronavirus very low, to the point where international rugby matches with tens of thousands of people are being held. Even when watching TV, masks and social distancing are hardly seen at all.
The New Zealand government's response to the coronavirus has been praised worldwide, and Prime Minister Ardern has frequently been praised by overseas media. Within New Zealand, too, support for Prime Minister Ardern and the Labour Party is increasing, which likely contributed to the results of this election.
Last year, when 51 Muslims were shot dead in a mosque in Christchurch, she was praised for quickly taking up gun control measures. Prime Minister Ardern was on maternity leave during her term, and even after giving birth, she made headlines by attending a UN conference with her child (as New Zealand is only the third female prime minister, the fact that she is a woman is not a big deal at all), so some people are sarcastic that this is more of a popularity contest for Prime Minister Ardern than a show of support for the Labour Party.
Nonetheless, there is no doubt that this is the Labour Party's first single-party government and a historic victory.
In the last election in 2017, the outcome of the government depended on whether NZ First would form a coalition with the Labour Party or the National Party. Because Peters chose the Labour Party, Jacinda Ardern was often rumored to be the prime minister chosen by Peters. In this election, she won the prime ministerial seat on her own.
Prime Minister Ardern's victory speech
Tonight, New Zealand has given Labour its biggest vote in 50 years. We got support in cities, we got support in rural areas, we got support in hard-to-win battlegrounds. And there's only one thing to say about that: Thank you.
I would like to thank those who continued to convey our thoughts, the volunteers who supported this difficult election campaign with no end in sight, the candidates and MPs who have continued to fight to gain your support not only in the past three weeks of election campaigning but over the past three years, the many people who cast their vote, trusting that we could continue to work with them to recover from COVID-19, and all of you who supported the Labour Party for the first time. Thank you.
We will never take your support for granted and we are committed to working for every New Zealander.
I repeated "Thank you" over and over again.
You can watch Prime Minister Ardern's victory speech here.
It ends with the Labour Party's slogan, "Let's keep moving".
Greens maintain position, National suffers crushing defeat, First loses out
The Greens won 10 seats (about 8%), up two from the previous eight. Currently, they are in a non-cabinet cooperation relationship with the Labour Party, but since the Labour Party can maintain power on its own this time, attention is focused on how this relationship will change.
Judas Collins, leader of the main opposition party, the National Party, which lost about 20% of its seats, thanked his supporters, candidates, and his family, and vowed to regain power in three years, saying, "Three years will go by in the blink of an eye, and I want to tell you all that we will definitely be back. Tonight marks the start of the next election, on to 2023!"
It has not been made clear whether Collins will remain the leader of the National Party, but the party has had three leaders in the past year, and Collins only took office a few months before the election. It seems likely...
NZ First, led by Winston Peters, the current Deputy Prime Minister and key player in the Labour Party's coming to power in the last election, was defeated and lost its seats. Peters is a veteran politician who was first elected in 1978. He left the National Party in 1993 to set up the First Party, but Peters is 75 this year and there are rumors that he may retire.
Prime Minister's fiancee has a barbecue at home
This is Ardern's fiance, Clarke Gayford.
On the day of the election, he was seen serving homemade food to the media and neighbors who had gathered at his house! The fish he served was something he had caught with his father and brother-in-law the day before the election, and the venison he had hunted himself.
Of course, after this I headed to the Labour Party headquarters and stood next to Prime Minister Ardern as she gave her victory speech.
A second government led by Prime Minister Ardern is due to be formed in three weeks, and the results of referendums on euthanasia and the legalisation of recreational cannabis, held at the same time as the election, are due to be announced in two weeks.
