Jacinda Ardern has won a historic victory in the 2020 election, with Labour on track to form the first majority government in the MMP era.
With 98 per cent of the vote counted, Labour looks set to win 49 per cent of the party vote, giving the party 64 seats in Parliament.
Celebrating her victory in the Auckland Town Hall, Ardern acknowledged her history-making win.
“Tonight, New Zealand has shown the Labour Party its greatest support in at least 50 years,” she said.
“Tonight’s result has been strong and it is clear that Labour will lead the Government for the next three years,” she said.
Ardern was praised for New Zealand’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, and after she implemented strick lockdown measures in March, officials in June announced that the country officially had zero known cases of COVID-19. After new measures were implemented in Auckland in response to a new outbreak, there is now no community spread of the coronavirus in New Zealand, where wearing masks and social distancing is also no longer required, according to the AP.
“We will govern as we campaigned: positively with optimism about our future,” Arden said on Friday. “Now more than ever is the time to keep going, to keep working, to grab hold of the opportunities that lay in front of us. Let’s keep moving.”