New leader
Labour leader gets full backing from ‘kingmaker’ to form new government
Labour newcomer Jacinda Ardern set to become New Zealand PM.
WELLINGTON: New Zealand’s centre-left opposition leader Jacinda Ardern is poised to become prime minister in a stunning rise to power, after maverick populist Winston Peters (pic) backed the charismatic 37-year-old to form a government.
Peters’ decision yesterday, which came after the Sept 23 election ended deadlocked, gives Ardern’s Labour Party the numbers to form a government with his New Zealand First and the Greens.
“This is an exciting day,” Ardern said in a brief statement yesterday.
“We aspire to be a government for all New Zealanders and one that will seize the opportunity to build a fairer, better New Zealand.”
Peters, who has been offered the deputy prime ministership under the deal, told reporters “we had a choice to make for a modified status quo or for change”.
“That’s why in the end, we chose a coalition government of New Zealand First with the New Zealand Labour Party,” he added.
The 72-year-old “kingmaker” was full of praise for Ardern, who revived Labour’s fortunes when she became party leader just weeks out from the election.
“She exhibited extraordinary talent in the campaign itself from a very hopeless position,” he said.
While Labour and the Greens have to formally approve the coalition, Ardern will become the nation’s youngest leader since 1856 and only the third female prime minister.
Ardern thanked Peters for his support, saying it was “a critical step to forming a Labour-led progressive government”.
She campaigned on issues such as housing affordability and free tertiary education. Environmental action and improved healthcare were also constant themes at the hustings.
The result will be a bitter blow to outgoing conservative Prime Minister Bill English, who ran an unexpectedly strong campaign to win 44.4% of the vote, far higher than Labour’s 36%.
It is the first time since New Zealand adopted proportional voting in 1996 that the party which claimed the largest slice of the vote has failed to form government.
Peters has thrashed out policy positions over 12 days of negotiations and said he only made his decision 15 minutes before making it public.
He did not inform English or Ardern before going public, saying voters deserved to know first.
Peters also refused to specify what policy concessions he received from Labour.
But the anti-immigration campaigners’ demands are expected to centre on issues such as cutting migrant numbers, banning foreign home buyers and boosting regional development.