Landslide win for Ardern in New Zealand
NEW ZEALAND Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won a landslide victory in the country’s general election yesterday, a triumph that was secured by her success i n tackling the coronavirus pandemic.
Ms Ardern’s Labour Party achieved almost 50 per cent of the vote, gaining a rare outright parli amentary majority and confirming her premiership for the next three years.
Voters rewarded Ms Ardern, 40, for her decisive ‘go hard, go early’ approach, which eliminated community transmission of the virus. As a result, New Zealand gained a reputation as a world leader in fighting the virus, with only 1,883 cases and 25 deaths recorded so far.
While its borders remain shut, life is largely back to normal in the island nation, with use of masks optional and no limits on social gatherings. In a unifying victory speech at Auckland Town Hall, Ms Ardern echoed Boris Johnson when she said: ‘We will build back bett er f r om t he Covid crisis. This is our opportunity to take on poverty and inequality. Let’s step forward together.’
Mr Johnson tweeted his congratulations, writing: ‘From our work together to tackle climate change to forging an exciting new trade partnership, the UK and NZ have great things to look f o r ward to in the future.’
First elected in 2017, Ms Ardern, who a l s o won praise for her response to the Christchurch mosque shootings last March that left 51 dead, led her party to an outright majority as they won 64 seats.
No party has managed to achieve such a feat in New Zealand since it introduced a proportional representation voting system in 1996.
The opposition centreright National Party won just 26.8 per cent of the vote — the worst result in their 84-year history. Their leader, Judith Collins, conceded defeat long before all the ballots were tallied.
New Zeal a n d e r s a l s o voted in two referendums on the issues of euthanasia and legalising cannabis. The results are due on October 30.