By Jo Moir, RNZ political editor
Labour Party leader Chris Hipkins says National is only in pole position to form a government in New Zealand because it “manipulated the electoral system”.
“There are a lot of people very angry about the direction that the country has been heading under this government, and you actually see that in the fact that after only one term, National has lost the party vote in this election,” he said.
“They’re only holding on to the prospect of power because they’ve manipulated the electoral system.
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“They’re in a position where if they weren’t manipulating the electoral system, they would be gone at this point.”
He said National manipulated things through the “overhang strategy”.
Asked how that was the case when National had pushed back strongly against vote-splitting, Hipkins said Winston Peters and Chris Bishop weren’t doing that.
“Oh, for goodness sakes! I saw Chris Bishop in the electorate right next to mine, standing next to Winston Peters, asking New Zealand First voters to vote National on their electorate vote,” Hipkins said.
While caretaker Prime Minister Christopher Luxon was encouraging voters to “party vote National”, Hipkins said “that’s not what their candidates on the ground were doing”.
- The 2026 election is done but finals results will not be announced until November 27. You can view full results here, and view results in each electorate here. Follow RNZ’s live blog here.
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