New Zealand finalizes government coalition of three right-wing parties

Sydney (Australia), November 20 (EFE).- Christopher Luxon, leader of New Zealand’s Conservative National Party, announced on Monday that “significant” progress has been made in talks with the two parties to form a coalition government. Right after winning the elections held on 14 October

The Conservative National Party won those elections against Labor and is still in power, but needs the support of nationalists NZ First and the liberal right-wing Consumers and Taxpayers’ Association (ACT) to secure a majority in parliament and form a coalition government.

Speaking to reporters in Auckland today, Lacson said that the three political parties have reached an agreement in principle on their political programs and are currently negotiating on ministerial positions.

“We’ve achieved a huge milestone overnight, we’ve actually completed and agreed policy proposals in both the ACT and New Zealand, which is a huge achievement,” public broadcaster Radio New Zealand reported.

After last month’s election, the National Party won 48 of the 122 seats in Wellington’s parliament, ACT 11 and NZ First 8.

If a triple coalition is sealed, the outgoing Labor Party, which won 34 seats, will be in opposition with its traditional allies, the Green Party and the Maori Party, which won 15 and 6 seats respectively.

Lacson described today that party representatives held meetings last week to “talk about their key priorities,” while this Monday they continued those conversations to “ensure that the two can sign off on privately agreed policy plans and agendas.”

However, there was no immediate confirmation of a new deal from ACT or NZ First, whose chairman Winston Peters declined to give further details, saying negotiations to agree a political plan were in the “final stages”.

“We have to reach an agreement. We have to form a government and move on. We are not far from reaching that,” he told reporters.

The results of last October’s elections represent a turnaround from 2020, in which Labour’s Jacinda Ardern, who resigned in January citing exhaustion, won 49% of the vote – an unprecedented figure since 1996. EFE

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