Conservatives storm to power in New Zealand – Hipkins voted out Israel must drop phosphorus bombs on Gaza – that’s what we know

There will be a change of government in New Zealand after the general election. According to the preliminary results, the clear winner is the conservative National Party with top candidate Christopher Luxon (53). After counting more than 80 percent of the votes, the party has about 40 percent and 51 seats in parliament, the election commission announced. To form a government, at least 61 of the 120 seats in parliament are needed. Luxon will therefore probably depend on a coalition with the right-wing liberal party ACT, which has about nine percent of the votes.

Previously ruling Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (45) of the social democratic Labor Party admitted defeat in the evening. “As things stand, Labor will not be able to form a government,” he said. The party is the big loser of votes. According to calculations, she received about 26 percent of the votes, thus losing half of her previous mandates in parliament. Hipkins became prime minister in January after his world-famous predecessor Jacinda Ardern unexpectedly resigned.

Ardern emphasized at the time that she no longer had the strength to continue leading the country. The charismatic politician mainly made a name for herself through her sensitive crisis management, for example after the fatal attacks on two mosques in Christchurch and during the corona pandemic. But it was also controversial in its own country because of its tough pandemic policy.

The outcome of the election was less close than polls had previously suggested. According to the figures, Luxon does not need a difficult alliance with the populist anti-immigration party New Zealand First to govern. Due to the sharp increase in the cost of living, especially in food, many New Zealanders are now hoping for economic policy reforms.

There were no exact figures on voter turnout, but it was probably high. On Saturday there were sometimes long lines at the polling stations. About 3.8 million citizens were called to the polls. Voting has been open since October 2 and around a million people took advantage of this offer before Election Day. (sda/dpa)