New Zealand election too close to call with over 42 percent of votes counted
Labour edges National 29.71 to 29.41 after campaign fought over cost of living, New Zealand First holds the balance at 9.41 percent
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New Zealand counts votes in razor-thin election
euronews.com
New Zealand began counting votes on Saturday in an election too close to call, with Labour at 29.71 percent against the governing National Party's 29.41 and just over 42 percent of ballots processed. Prime Minister Christopher Luxon leads a National-led right-wing coalition seeking a second term; Chris Hipkins's Labour Party is the main challenger. The campaign centred on the cost of living and the economy; the count has produced a dead heat.
No party on the ballot is expected to secure a majority, so the next government will be assembled after the count. New Zealand's proportional system gives each voter two ballots — a party vote, which decides the makeup of parliament, and an electorate vote for a local member. Voters of Māori descent choose between the general roll and the Māori roll, a choice that determines which electorate, and therefore which candidates, they vote for.
The minor parties hold roughly a third of the count between them: the Greens at 13.96 percent, ACT — National's coalition partner — at 10.63, and New Zealand First at 9.41. The smallest of the three polled more than thirty times the gap separating the two major parties. Whoever wants office will negotiate for that support privately, after the voters have gone home.
With just over 42 percent of ballots counted, Labour led National by three-tenths of a percentage point. The party best positioned to decide who governs was polling 9.41 percent.