By Elishya Perera
AUCKLAND (CWBN)_ Who’s in? Who’s out? The shape of New Zealand’s political and social landscape for the next three years is being unveiled tonight. With 60% of the nationwide votes counted, it’s clearly a big night for Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party. Labour has gathered 49.4% of Nationwide Party Votes, while the main opposition National Party was second with 26.7%, followed by ACT New Zealand at 8.0% and the Green Party at 7.8%.
Even though the Labour Party actually fell behind the opposition National Party in February, amidst criticism that Arden had failed to deliver certain key policies during her first term, the second wave of the virus changed the equation, as New Zealand once again stamped out of the virus successfully.
Meanwhile, Act Party leader David Seymour said this afternoon that he was very happy with the vote so far and thanked his neighbours in the Epsom electorate who trusted him enough to re-elect him for another term. Claiming that he would likely face another term in opposition, nevertheless, Seymour said that he would continue to point out how to forge a better path.
While opinion polls prior to Election Day had suggested that Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern is on course to win a second term, nevertheless, many believed that the Labour party would fail to claim a parliamentary majority. However, if the results released so far give an accurate prediction, the party may not need to form a coalition government after all.
The General Election held today was New Zealand’s 53rd since general elections began in 1853. It was the seventh election conducted under the Mixed-Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system that was used for the first time in 1996. One of the salient characteristics of the system is that it tends to produce coalition governments since a single political party has not been able to secure an overall majority at the legislature thus far. However, for the first time since the system was introduced, the Labour Party may get the numbers to win outright and secure a majority of the 120 seats in parliament, making history in the island nation.
Voting booths closed at 7pm today. However, almost two million people cast their vote before Election Day, accounting for about 50.7% cent of registered voters. In 2017, 2.6 million people voted, with 1.2 million voting early.
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