New Zealanders elect a new prime minister
AUCKLAND, New Zealand — Conservative former businessman Christopher Luxon will be New Zealand’s next prime minister after winning a decisive election Saturday.
People voted for change after six years of a liberal government led for most of that time by Jacinda Ardern.
The exact makeup of Luxon’s government is still to be determined. Ballots continued to be counted.
Luxon arrived to rapturous applause at an event in Auckland. He was joined onstage by his wife, Amanda, and their children, William and Olivia. He said he was humbled by the victory and couldn’t wait to start his new job. He thanked people from across the country.
“You have reached for hope and you have voted for change,” he said.
Supporters chanted his campaign slogan, which promised to get the country “back on track.”
Outgoing Prime Minister Chris Hipkins, who spent just nine months in the top job after taking over from Ardern in January, told supporters late Saturday that he had called Luxon to concede.
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.
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.
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.
With most of the vote counted, Luxon’s National Party had about 40% of the vote. Under New Zealand’s proportional voting system, Luxon, 53, is expected to form an alliance with the libertarian ACT Party.
Meanwhile, the Labor 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.
In a result that would be particularly stinging for Labor 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 Labor stronghold and was also held by another former Labor prime minister, Helen Clark.
The National Party candidate for the seat, Melissa Lee, told The Associated Press that she was feeling excited but also nervous about the final result in Mount Albert.
“It’s been Labor since 1946. It has been the biggest, safest Labor seat forever,” she said. “It would be fantastic if we won it.”
Lee said that when she was door-knocking in her campaign, 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.
David Farrar, a longtime conservative pollster, said there was still a good chance that Labor would end up holding the seat once all the votes were counted. However, he said, his initial impression of voting throughout the country was that it was turning out to be a “bloodbath” for the left.
Luxon has promised tax cuts for middle-income earners and a crackdown on crime.