New Zealand poll shows comfortable lead for centre-right National Party

By Alasdair Pal

Oct 4 (Reuters) – New Zealand’s National Party is likely to emerge as the leader in next month’s general election, an opinion poll released on Wednesday showed, though support for its preferred partner fell, increasing the likelihood of a three-party coalition.

The poll by 1News Verian showed the centre-right National led by Christopher Luxon on 36%, with Prime Minister Chris Hipkins’ Labour Party on 26%.

That would leave National with 46 seats in New Zealand’s 120-member parliament, 15 short of a majority.

Support for the right-wing ACT party fell by two percentage points to 10%, or a projected 13 seats, meaning Luxon would also need the support of the populist New Zealand First party led by Winston Peters to form a government.

New Zealand elects lawmakers using a mixed-member proportional system that has made coalitions the norm since it was introduced in 1996. The largest party can sometimes fail to form a government.

Former foreign minister Peters, 78, has made a surprise comeback after his party was wiped out at the last general election in 2020 following an alliance with Labour.

PHOTO: New Zealand’s National Party leaderr Christopher Luxon