JavaScript is off. Please enable to view full site.

New Zealand's Ardern to form government within 3 weeks after historic election win

New Zealand's Ardern to form government within 3 weeks after historic election win

Sunday, October 18, 2020, 11:25 GMT+7
New Zealand's Ardern to form government within 3 weeks after historic election win
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern participates in a televised debate with National leader Judith Collins at TVNZ in Auckland, New Zealand, September 22, 2020. Fiona Goodall/Pool via Reuters

WELLINGTON -- After a thumping election win, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said on Sunday that she would form a government within three weeks but declined to say whether she would rule alone or form a coalition.

Ardern on Saturday delivered the biggest election victory for her centre-left Labour Party in half a century. Her new majority in parliament will allow her to form the first single-party government since New Zealand adopted a proportional voting system in 1996.

“Whilst there will be another three weeks before we have that final result, my expectation is that we will work on the government formation within that frame,” Ardern told a news conference.

Labour won 64 of the 120 seats in the country’s unicameral parliament.

For the last three years, Ardern was in a coalition with the Green Party and the nationalist New Zealand First party. Although she no longer needs support, coalitions are the norm in New Zealand as parties look to build consensus.

“I have been a consensus builder but I also need to work with the mandate that Labour has been given as well,” Ardern said.

“I have said to the Greens that I would talk to them next week,” she said. “I don’t want to draw any conclusion at this point.”

The Greens returned with a bigger mandate of 7.6% of the vote, but NZ First, led by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters, did not gather enough support to return to parliament.

The Maori Party, representing the indigenous community which is about 15% of the population, made a comeback to parliament.

The resounding victory is a yes vote for Ardern’s progressive, democratic governance and for her leadership in crushing COVID-19 in the country, as well as her handling of a massacre of 51 worshippers at two Christchurch mosques and a fatal volcano eruption.

Ardern, 40, burnished her reputation this year with her “go hard, go early” approach to COVID-19, which had all but eliminated the coronavirus in the country, until a new case was reported on Sunday.

New Zealand has had just 25 deaths and around 1,500 infections. In the new case, health officials said the infected person was identified early and risk of transmission was contained.

Ardern retains a solid international following with her promotion of issues including woman’s rights, social justice, and multilateralism.

Still, there has been criticism of her economic policies, and a looming summer season with no international tourists will be a major test.

Reuters

More

Read more

;

Photos

VIDEOS

‘Taste of Australia’ gala dinner held in Ho Chi Minh City after 2-year hiatus

Taste of Australia Gala Reception has returned to the Park Hyatt Hotel in Ho Chi Minh City's District 1 after a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic

Vietnamese woman gives unconditional love to hundreds of adopted children

Despite her own immense hardship, she has taken in and cared for hundreds of orphans over the past three decades.

Vietnam’s Mekong Delta celebrates spring with ‘hat boi’ performances

The art form is so popular that it attracts people from all ages in the Mekong Delta

Vietnamese youngster travels back in time with clay miniatures

Each work is a scene caught by Dung and kept in his memories through his journeys across Vietnam

Latest news