Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern swept to a commanding victory in New Zealand’s general election, securing a second term that will give her a bigger mandate to tackle social inequality.
Main opposition National Party leader Judith Collins conceded defeat in a speech to supporters Saturday night in Auckland saying she had spoken to Ardern earlier in the evening to congratulate her.
Collins, who struggled to gain transaction against the wildly popular Ardern during the campaign, pointed to the economic challenges facing the nation as it recovers from the coronavirus pandemic.
“New Zealand is in for a tough economic ride and it is going to need better fiscal policy than we have so far seen,” she said.
With 80% of the vote counted, Ardern’s Labour Party had 49% support — heading to its biggest share of the vote since the 1930s — after a huge swing to the left in many urban and provincial electorates. National slumped to 27%, its worst showing since 2002.
Ardern, 40, has captured the hallowed center ground in New Zealand politics with a blend of empathetic leadership and skilled crisis management that has also won her fame abroad. Her successful handling of the coronavirus pandemic has demonstrated those strengths, drowning out criticism that she hasn’t delivered on some key promises during her first term in office.
The landslide victory will give Ardern more scope to deliver the transformational government she promised when she came to power three years ago, particularly with Labour’s ally the Greens pushing her to be more progressive on issues such as poverty and climate change. Still, she will be wary of alienating centrist voters with increased social spending at a time when debt is spiraling due to the government’s pandemic response.
Voters are rewarding Ardern for crushing community transmission of Covid-19 while countries like the U.K., U.S. and even neighboring Australia are still battling to contain the virus.
