New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (R) has conceded the election (Picture: EPA / AP)
New Zealand Prime Minister Chris Hipkins on Saturday conceded his Labour Party had lost the general election and was not in a position to form government.
Conservative Christopher Luxon is now set to become the country’s next prime minister after NZ Labour suffered a ‘nightmare’ result.
With over 80% of votes counted, the latest projections suggests that National would win 50 seats, Labour 34, the Greens 13, Act 12, NZ First 8 and Te Pāti Māori four seats.
New Zealand operates a proportional representive voting system, and the exact makeup of Luxon’s conservative government is still to be determined.
Conservative Christopher Luxon is now set to become the country’s next PM (Picture: EPA)
Libertarian party ACT now seem likely to form a coalition with National, who have secured around 40% of the vote.
However, National may secure enough seats to govern without the assistance of right-wing populists NZ First, who have traditionally acted as kingmakers within the country’s parliamentary makeup.
Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who spent just nine months in the top job after taking over from Jacinda Ardern in January, told supporters late Saturday he had called Luxon to concede.
An emotional Hipkins said it wasn’t the result he wanted.
‘But I want you to be proud of what we achieved over the last six years,’ he told supporters at an event in Wellington.
Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly stepped down as prime minister in January, saying she no longer had ‘enough in the tank’ to do the job justice.
She won the last election in a landslide, but her popularity waned as people got tired of COVID-19 restrictions and inflation threatened the economy.
Chris Hipkins succeeded Jacinda Ardern as PM in January (Picture: AP)
Her departure left Hipkins, 45, to take over as leader. He had previously served as education minister and led the response to the coronavirus pandemic.
Meanwhile, the Labour Party that Hipkins leads was getting only a little over 25% of the vote — about half the proportion it got in the last election under Ardern.
And in a result that would be particularly stinging for Labour should it lose the seat, National was in a tight race for Ardern’s old electorate seat, Mount Albert. The seat has long been a Labour stronghold and was also held by another former Labour prime minister, Helen Clark.
The National Party candidate for the seat, Melissa Lee, told The Associated Press she was feeling excited but also nervous about the final result in Mount Albert.
‘It’s been Labour since 1946. It has been the biggest, safest Labour seat forever,’ she said. ‘It would be fantastic if we won it.’
Lee said that when she was door-knocking, people had told her they were tired of the current government and were concerned with the state of the economy and the spiraling cost of living.
Luxon has promised tax cuts for middle-income earners and a crackdown on crime. Hipkins had promised free dental care for people younger than 30 and the removal of sales taxes on fruit and vegetables.
Luxon, who became an MP in 2020, previously served as chief executive of both Unilever Canada and Air New Zealand (Picture: EPA)
Also at stake in the election is the government’s relationship with Indigenous Maori. Luxon has promised to axe the Maori Health Authority, which he says creates two separate health systems. Hipkins says he’s proud of such co-governance efforts and has accused Luxon of condoning racism.
Within days of taking the reins in January, Hipkins found himself dealing with a crisis after deadly floods and then a cyclone hit New Zealand. He quickly jettisoned some of Ardern’s more contentious policies and promised a ‘back to basics’ approach focused on tackling the spiraling cost of living.
During a six-week election campaign, both Hipkins and Luxon traveled the country and hammed it up for the cameras.
Earlier in the week, Luxon, who served as chief executive of both Unilever Canada and Air New Zealand, told an energized crowd in Wellington that he would crack down on gangs.
‘I’ve gotta tell you, crime is out of control in this country,’ Luxon said. ‘And we are going to restore law and order, and we are going to restore personal responsibility.’
Luxon also got cheers when he promised to fix the capital’s gridlocked traffic with a new tunnel project.
Luxon is relatively new to politics but held his own against the more experienced Hipkins during televised debates, according to political observers. But Luxon also made some gaffes, such as when he was asked in a 1News debate how much he spent each week on food.
His answer of “about sixty bucks” (U.S. $36) was ridiculed on social media as showing him being out of touch with the cost of living.
Got a story? Get in touch with our news team by emailing us at webnews@metro.co.uk. Or you can submit your videos and pictures here.
For more stories like this, check our news page.
Follow Metro.co.uk on Twitter and Facebook for the latest news updates. You can now also get Metro.co.uk articles sent straight to your device. Sign up for our daily push alerts here.