After an election campaign of fits and starts, in which neither major party appeared to offer much solace to a weary nation, voters in New Zealand on Saturday ousted the party once led by Jacinda Ardern and elected the country’s most rightwing government in a generation, handing victory to a coalition of two conservative parties.
New Zealand’s next prime minister will be Christopher Luxon, a former CEO of Air New Zealand, whose center-right National Party will lead a coalition with Act, a smaller libertarian party.
Addressing a euphoric crowd at his party’s victory event on Auckland’s waterfront, Luxon thanked supporters and promised a better and more stable future for the country.