AUCKLAND: New Zealand faced the prospect of weeks of political wrangling after a knife-edge election that produced no clear winner but saw record gains for minor parties. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon declared his right-wing coalition had a mandate to form the country's next government — while conceding results remained too close to call definitively.
Preliminary results have his National Party winning the most seats, giving them a very slim majority of just two if combined with their coalition partners, the populist NZ First and the libertarian ACT. "New Zealanders have given us the biggest seats in parliament, 42 seats as it stands today, and a pathway to form a government," Luxon told journalists on Sunday. "There's no doubt about it. We've got a mandate."
Opposition Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins has joked that while the country had spoken, "it may take us a little bit longer to figure out exactly what it is that you've said". But the results show he has only a very narrow path to power for his left-wing grouping, which also includes the Green Party and Te Pati Maori, representing the interests of New Zealand's Indigenous community. — AFP
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