In brief
In a tightly contested election day on Saturday, New Zealand voters looked ahead to a parliament with nearly equal support for National and Labour. A recent poll shows Labour at slightly more than 30%, while National trails at about 26%. Surge in voter concern over cost of living, healthcare and fuel prices could tilt the balance.
On Saturday, Nov. 11, New Zealand voters went to polling stations nationwide in a general election that has tightened into a neck‑and‑neck race between the ruling National Party and the opposition Labour Party, Xinhua reported. The latest poll by The Post/Freshwater Strategy, released Friday, put Labour at 30.7 percent, just ahead of National’s 26.4 percent, according to the wire service.
Xinhua also cited a survey of 1,008 New Zealanders aged 18 and older, released by Ipsos, that highlighted cost of living and inflation as the top concerns for 64 percent of respondents. Healthcare trailed at 45 percent, while fuel prices rose sharply to 31 percent, moving up from seventh to third place in the latest survey.
The poll shows the coalition of National, ACT and New Zealand First receiving 59 percent of the vote, which would give the coalition 59 seats in a 120‑seat parliament—two short of the 61 needed for a simple majority. Labour, the Greens and the Māori Party would together command 55 seats. Support for the ACT party was 9.8 percent, New Zealand First 12 percent, the Green Party 13 percent, the Māori Party 2 percent, and the Opportunity Party a potential kingmaker with 5.1 percent.
More than 2,300 voting places are scheduled to open nationwide on election day, and the government, which is usually formed by two or more parties under the mixed‑member proportional system, will wait for results to be declared on Nov. 27, the wire added.
