Christopher Luxon, New Zealand driver turning right

“Blue has spread across the country,” Christopher Luxon, with a shaved head and a blue tie in his party’s colors, said during his election victory speech Saturday evening in Auckland. “I voted for change. “The National Party will work to lower the cost of living, restore law and order, provide better healthcare and educate our children so they can live the lives they dream of,” promised the 50-year-old, who is set to become president. The next minister. Minister.

With nearly 40% of the vote, his party has a strong lead over other parties and can count on 50 seats in the New Zealand Parliament. Everything indicates that she will join the right-wing liberal ACT party, which received 9% of the vote and 12 seats, to form a majority of 62 of the 120 seats in the mid-term election cycle. However, it cannot be ruled out that he will accept the extended hand of Winston Peters, the symbolic figure of New Zealand’s first populists (6.5% of the vote, 8 seats).

Defeat of work

The Labor Party, which was hoping to win a third term, came in second place with 26.8% of the vote and 34 seats. At the beginning of the evening, outgoing Prime Minister Chris Hipkins (45 years old) acknowledged defeat, admitting that his party would not be able to form a government “despite the massive campaign on the ground.”

The former health secretary, who succeeded Jacinda Ardern at short notice after her shock withdrawal from politics in January, failed to impress during the 10 months of his tenure. Tired of inflation, the cost of living and the housing crisis, New Zealanders have turned their backs on six years of Labor rule and put their faith in centre-right parties.

“There’s no doubt about this desire for change, to stand against the previous government, especially in Auckland where strong Labor strongholds were raided,” says Fiona Parker, lecturer in comparative politics at the University of Wellington.

“Te Pati Māori also surprised by winning two constituencies that were always won by Labor and held by important Māori families,” she notes, noting the arrival of a new generation of activists. The current Foreign Minister, Nanaia Mahuta – recognizable by the tribal tattoo on her face – has lost the seat she held for 27 years in Hauraki Waikato, to a 21-year-old, Hannah Ruhiti Maebi Clarke.

“Restoring law and order”

The National Party promised to “put the country back on track by rebuilding the economy”, “restoring law and order” and improving the health and education systems. In particular, the program aims to deal with inflation (about 6%), “which is rising dramatically and pushing New Zealanders back,” the movement says. Infrastructure investments feature well in election campaign promises, especially for offshore wind projects.

However, New Zealanders “didn’t really vote for Christopher Luxon, but against Labor, driven by resentment from the Jacinda Ardern era,” the political scientist says. She asserts that the National Party leader is “someone who has spent his career overseas and has recently returned to New Zealand.” He highlights his professional success, but people didn’t really know him.

The 53-year-old former businessman is preparing to take over leadership of the archipelago of five million people in the Pacific Ocean. After two decades working at Unilever – including Australia, the USA and Canada – the New Zealand South Island native joined national carrier Air New Zealand in 2011.

He was quickly promoted to CEO, and led the company for nearly seven years, before entering politics under the blue flag in 2019. Now in the political cockpit, he will have to ensure his country shifts to the right. Negotiations to form the coalition are expected to begin in the coming weeks.