Jacinda Ardern sweeps New Zealand elections, says voters endorsed her coronavirus response

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s centre-left Labour Party won a landslide victory in New Zealand’s general election on October 17, 2020, as voters rewarded her for a decisive response to Covid-19. With 77 per cent of ballots counted, Labour had earned 49 per cent of the votes, far ahead of the opposition National Party which collected 27 per cent, according to the nation’s Electoral Commission. The Labour Party was on track to win 64 of the 120 seats in the country’s unicameral parliament, the biggest win by any party since New Zealand adopted a proportional voting system in 1996.