With its most resounding victory since 1946, the weight of expectation on Labour has never been greater

The Jacinda Ardern-led New Zealand Labour party has swept to its largest election night victory since 1946, winning 49.1% of the party vote and 64 seats in parliament. While the outcome is, in effect, a little-change election in the sense that the next government will still be led by Ardern, Labour’s victory is one for the history books. Not since the introduction of New Zealand’s Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system, has the Labour party had a mandate to govern alone.

For Labour’s former coalition partner, New Zealand First, the result was a disaster. It appears minor-party voters were no longer attracted to New Zealand First’s promises to be a handbrake on change, preferring instead to give their vote to ACT and the Greens, two parties with strong ideas about how to deal with the issues that are confronting New Zealand in the immediate future: rising house prices, income and social inequality, climate change, and the post-Covid economic recovery.