New Zealand’s ruling National Party is set to begin talks to form a new government, CNN affiliate Radio NZ reported, after preliminary results show it leading the main opposition Labour Party in Saturday’s general election.
The results may put Prime Minister Bill English’s National Party in a position to remain in power for a fourth term despite a strong challenge from Labour — a party that had led in some polls preceding Saturday’s election.
With 100% of the votes counted, National led Labour 46% to 35.8%, a preliminary count from the country’s Electoral Commission showed early Sunday.
Without an outright majority, National would have to form a coalition with another party to remain in power. English has said he will talk to the New Zealand First party — third in the preliminary results with 7.5% — Radio NZ reported.
Coalitions would be nothing new for National, which has run a minority government since 2008.
But the process could take time. The leader of New Zealand First, Winston Peters, told supporters Saturday night that any decision about a coalition wasn’t imminent, Radio NZ reported.
“I will not be giving any answers tonight or tomorrow until I’ve had a full chance to talk to our full board of New Zealand First, our supporters and organizations around the country and our (members of Parliament),” Peters said, according to Radio NZ.
English had seen his party’s standing in the polls plummet since announcing the election in February, and Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party surged.
The Electoral Commission said it plans to have official results published October 7.
Surprisingly close
At the start of the year, English — who replaced former National leader John Key in December — was in a strong position and looked certain to continue Key’s electoral success.
But a surprise decision by then-Labour leader Andrew Little to stand aside at the start of the campaign made room for Ardern, 37, a three-term member of Parliament.
After she took control of Labour, the party surged in the polls, leading the press to coin the term “Jacindamania.”
“Suddenly an alternative Labour-led government (was really) looking viable,” Grant Duncan, an expert on New Zealand politics at Massey University, told CNN earlier this month.
Polls heading into Saturday’s vote put the two main parties neck and neck, with a slight advantage for National in some surveys, according to Radio NZ.
Voter engagement was high, with more than 800,000 taking advantage of early voting by Thursday, almost double the number who had done so at an equivalent point in the last election.
The election was largely focused on the economy, with National attempting to highlight its positive record, and housing prices, a key topic of attack for Labour.
New Zealand has the fastest-rising house prices among major developed countries, according to data from The Economist, with a 13% increase in the past year. Labour had promised to build 100,000 new affordable homes if elected.