A Warm Reception
Photograph of New Zealand Prime-Minister Jacinda Ardern at a campaign event in Aukland. Photo courtesy of Michael Bradley of Agence France-Presse.
On 17 October, New Zealander’s gave the centre-left Labour Party an outright majority in the legislature. Prime-Minister Jacinda Ardern, who has become an increasingly-well known figure on the global stage, will serve a second term in office, after leading her party to a landslide victory.
The Labour Party accrued over 50 per cent of the vote, while its closest rival, the centre-right National Party, got less than 26 per cent, with a total 65 seats in the House of Representatives, Ms Ardern has been given a sizable mandate to govern.
No party has received a majority victory since New Zealand introduced the Mixed Member Proportional voting system in 1996, as reported by the British Broadcasting Corporation.
New Zealand’s election was initially scheduled to take place in September but was delayed until October, due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
The Green Party also made gains, garnering two more seats, while the right-wing New Zealand First Party lost all nine of its seats. While the right-wing librarian ACT New Zealand party picked up an additional nine seats
In addition to the general election, two referendums were also on the ballot this year, one concerning the use and sale of cannabis and another on medical euthanasia. New Zealand became the first country to put the use of medical euthanasia to a national referendum.
Voters approved legislation to allow for medical euthanasia, through the 2019 End of Life Choice Act, with almost 66 per cent of the vote. They rejected cannabis legalisation with less than 52 per cent. However, the cannabis plebiscite will not affect cannabis or hemp production in New Zealand, both of which were already legal.
Most political analysts predicted that Labour would remain the largest party, but the size of the victory seemed even to surprise Ms Ardern.
‘New Zealand has shown the Labour Party its greatest support in almost 50 years. We will not take your support for granted. And I can promise you we will be a party that governs for every New Zealander’, said the Prime-Minister.
National Party leader Judith Collins congratulated Labour on its victory and vowed to serve in a ‘robust opposition’.
The Green Party has signed onto a ‘cooperation agreement’ with the Labour government. While Green leaders did not agree to either a coalition or confidence and supply arrangement, the agreement will bolster Labour’s legislative agenda.
Ms Ardern and the Labour Party gained popular support during the COVID-19 pandemic after global leaders lauded the government for its response to the pandemic.
The party also solidified much of its popular support after a decision to launch a firearm amnesty and buy-back programme in response to the 2019 Christchurch mosque shootings. The initiative led to over 50,000 firearms being surrendered and included measures banning semi-automatic and military-style weapons, according to National Public Radio.
Despite Labour’s wide mandate and parliamentary majority, the government faces a difficult term. While COVID-19 cases in the country are relatively low, New Zealand has felt harsh economic effects from the pandemic.
New Zealand has slipped into an economic recession for the first time in 11 years, and Labour is facing criticism for not having a clear national recovery plan.
Labour’s campaign focused mainly on the positive moves that the government made in its last term, and avoided crystallising what the government’s next moves would be.
With tourism, international students, export duties, and subsidies drying up, Ms Ardern’s government may be hard-pressed to strengthen the economy without loosening its isolationist economic policies, according to The Economist.
New Zealanders have long-valued their country’s relative seclusion from the rest of the world. However, government models suggest that New Zealand will be locked down until 2022, and without a stream of foreign workers and students to the country, New Zealand’s small economy could face further contractions.
While Ms Ardern’s ‘warm and fuzzy’ campaign may have led her to an almost unprecedented victory in modern New Zealand politics, her government will face a cold couple of years. With an absolute majority in parliament, New Zealand’s success or failure will lie solely on Ms Ardern.
Sources:
‘New Zealand election: Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party scores landslide win’. BBC News, British Broadcasting Corporation, 17 Oct. 2020,
https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-54519628
Lonsdorf, Kat. ‘New Zealanders Hand In More Than 50,000 Weapons As The Country's Buyback Program Ends’. NPR, National Public Radio, 21 Dec. 2019,
‘A hard task ahead for Jacinda Ardern’s new government’. The Economist, The Economist Group, 24 Oct. 2020,
https://www.economist.com/asia/2020/10/24/a-hard-task-ahead-for-jacinda-arderns-new-government