Labour Leader Jacinda Ardern visits Labour Election Day volunteers as polling booths open on election day for the 2020 General Election of New Zealand in Auckland on October 17, 2020. AFP / MICHAEL BRADLEY
Jacinda Ardern has snatched a big lead in early election counting as she bids for a second term as New Zealand prime minister.
With 20% of votes tallied, Ardern’s Labour Party had just over 50% while the main opposition National Party languished at 26%. Among minor parties, the Greens had 8% support and ACT New Zealand was on 7.7%. New Zealand’s proportional representation electoral system lends itself to coalitions, with no party managing to secure an outright majority since its introduction in 1996.
Ardern is on course to form New Zealand’s most left-leaning government since 1999 with a Green partner pushing her to be more progressive on social policy and the climate. Still, she will be wary of alienating centrist voters with increased social spending at a time when debt is spiraling due to the government’s pandemic response.
Voters are rewarding Ardern for crushing community transmission of Covid-19 while countries like the U.K., U.S. and even neighboring Australia are still battling to contain the virus.
Her successful management of the crisis has drowned out criticism that she hasn’t delivered on some key promises during her first term in office.
National Party leader Judith Collins has offered temporary tax cuts to spur growth while attacking Ardern for policy failures, but hasn’t been able to gain traction.
Much of the early counting is of advance voting, with two million people or a record 57% casting their ballots before Saturday.
Labour’s ascendancy under Ardern has overshadowed her current coalition partner New Zealand First, which has 2.3% in early counting and is below the 5% it needs to be returned to parliament.
The election may therefore bring the curtain down on the four-decade political career of its leader, Winston Peters, a maverick who’s often held the balance of power.
