The finish line for forming the next government just keeps moving further away.
That was clear on Friday, when the final election count arrived and delivered a completely different playing field from what was seen on October 14.
The final result dashed National leader Christopher Luxon’s hopes of being able to form a government without NZ First. On election night, National and ACT had a slim majority – meaning NZ First and Winston Peters were a nice-to-have, not a must-have, for Luxon’s career as prime minister.
But on Friday, after 603,257 special votes were counted, National lost two seats. Together, National and ACT would have just 59 seats. In a 122 seat Parliament, that is not a majority.
In comes Winston Peters; NZ First’s eight seats are now essential for Luxon’s government.
National’s reliance on Peters’ support strengthens NZ First’s negotiating position, and complicates the governing arrangement.
During the campaign, and before it, the relationship between Peters and ACT leader David Seymour was feisty. Name-calling, sledging and trash-talking between Seymour and Peters was common.
Before the election, Seymour ruled out sitting around the Cabinet table with Peters. He called him the least trustworthy politician in the country.
ROBERT KITCHIN/The Post
National leader Christopher Luxon speaks to reporters after the final result is released.
But after the results were released on Friday, Seymour backtracked on his vow not to sit around the Cabinet table with Peters.
“I said that at a time when it appeared unlikely we get to this particular point,” Seymour told Stuff.
But he said he had no regrets about how he’d characterised Peters.
“What I said was still true and, unfortunately, you know, we now will do our best.”
STUFF
David Seymour has he has kept quiet during the last few weeks to avoid negotiating through media.
Since the campaign, Luxon has said he was undertaking a “relationship building” process with the NZ First and ACT parties. That’s involved regular phone calls with Seymour and Peters, as well as dinners.
But the relationship between Peters and Seymour hasn’t improved. In fact, Seymour on Friday revealed he’d tried multiple times to reach out to Peters and NZ First – but nobody was returning their calls.
He said he needed to talk with NZ First, for assurance about how the three parties could work together.
With Peters and NZ First assumed deputy leader Shane Jones unresponsive to requests for comment on Friday, it was up to Luxon to explain NZ First’s silent treatment.
Speaking at Parliament, Luxon insisted he would be able to bring all three parties together. He said he’d form a “strong and stable government”, in fact he repeated that phrase 15 times during the 20-minute press conference.
STUFF
Just how many times did Christopher Luxon utter his campagin mantra “strong and stable” when he spoke to media?
Acting as peacemaker, Luxon confirmed he spoke to both leaders on Friday and then refused to say who he called first. “It doesn’t matter. I’m not telling,” he replied, when asked who he dialled first.
In the days after the election, Luxon shared a simmer of hope that these negotiations would be over this weekend. He said he was hoping to attend the Pacific Islands Forum, which starts on Wednesday. But negotiations will keep him in Aotearoa. Instead, Carmel Sepuloni and Gerry Brownlee would attend the leaders’ retreat.
The week after, another major international diplomatic event was scheduled with APEC in San Francisco, US. Luxon previously said it was realistic that he could attend that high-profile meeting. Last week, he said he was hopeful negotiations would wrap up sometime next week.
But on Friday, Luxon wasn’t keen to commit to a time frame.
He said negotiating would take “as long as it takes”, adding: “I can’t guarantee timing. I just genuinely can’t because there is complexity and arrangements that we need to work through with each respective party.”
STUFF
Christopher Luxon bats away a reporter who asked after details of calls with Winston Peters and David Seymour.
Recounts expected
One complexity will be recounts.
On Friday, there were five electorates where the winning margin was fewer than 500 votes. Tāmaki Makaurau was the tightest race, with just four votes separating Te Pāti Māori candidate Takutai Tarsh Kemp from Labour incumbent Peeni Henare.
Henare said he was considering all his options on Friday, while Kemp was celebrating. She said she expected Henare to ask for a recount, saying that she would if she was in his position.
In Mt Albert, Helen White was holding onto the former Labour Party stronghold by just 20 votes. National’s Melissa Lee was in second place, and Luxon said the party would likely ask for a recount there.
He also wanted a recount in Nelson, where Labour’s Rachel Boyack slid ahead during the special vote count – to achieve a 29 vote lead over National’s Blair Cameron.
But Luxon said he would not be waiting for recounts to settle a deal wtih NZ First and ACT.
Their negotiations would continue over the weekend, Luxon said.
