Asia-Pacific

New Zealand election: Centre-right party leader to become next PM

National Party’s Christopher Luxon takes strong lead, ending Labour’s six years in office

New Zealand National Party leader Christopher Luxon speaks during a National Party campaign rally in Wellington, New Zealand. Photograph: Hagen Hopkins/Getty

Sat Oct 14 2023 - 11:37

Conservative former businessman Christopher Luxon will be New Zealand’s next prime minister after winning a decisive election victory on Saturday.

People voted for change after six years of a liberal government led for most of that time by Jacinda Ardern.

The exact make-up of Mr Luxon’s government is still to be determined as ballots continued to be counted.

Prime minister Chris Hipkins, who spent just nine months in the top job after taking over from Ms Ardern in January, told supporters he had called Mr Luxon to concede.

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Mr Hipkins said it was not 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.

Ms 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 Mr Hipkins (45) to take over as leader. He had previously served as education minister and led the response to the coronavirus pandemic.

With more than two-thirds of the vote counted, Mr Luxon’s National Party had about 40 per cent of the vote. Under New Zealand’s proportional voting system, Mr Luxon (53) was expected to form an alliance with the libertarian ACT Party.

Meanwhile, the Labour Party that Mr Hipkins leads was getting only a little over 25 per cent of the vote – about half the proportion it got in the last election under Ms Ardern.

And in a result that would be particularly stinging for Labour should it lose the seat, the National Party was in a tight race for Ms Ardern’s old electorate seat, Mount Albert.

Mr Luxon has promised tax cuts for middle-income earners and a crackdown on crime. Mr Hipkins had promised free dental care for people younger than 30 and the removal of sales taxes on fruit and vegetables.

Also at stake in the election is the government’s relationship with Indigenous Māori.

Mr Luxon has promised to axe the Māori Health Authority, which he says creates two separate health systems.

Warm spring weather in the largest city of Auckland seemed to encourage voters, with queues forming outside some polling places. Early voting before election day was lower than in recent elections. – AP

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