National has issued a veiled warning to voters just five days out from polling day, saying if the party can't agree on coalition terms with New Zealand First, then Kiwis could be headed for a second election.
Polls show National would need both ACT and New Zealand First to form a government, despite the feud between Seymour and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters.
The latest Newshub Reid Research Poll showed the right bloc of National-ACT would only get 60 seats – one short of the number needed to form a government. This means they would need New Zealand First who would have six seats based on the Newshub poll.
But both National and ACT have been clear over the past week that they don't trust Peters and don't want to work with New Zealand First.
This has seen National ramp-up efforts to stop New Zealand First from holding the balance of power by raising the prospect of a second election.
National put an advertisement in the New Zealand Herald newspaper on Sunday warning voters about a second election.
"Imagine. No clear election winner. 8-weeks of coalition talks. A stalled economy. Nothing gets done. Don't risk the uncertainty. To guarantee a change of government party vote National," the advertisement read.
National campaign chair Chris Bishop defended putting the advertisement out saying he's just laying out the potential post-election scenarios.
But when questioned by AM co-host Ryan Bridge that "Kiwis aren't stupid, they know that" and if he thinks it's smart to be "threatening them with full-page ads", Bishop hit back saying people "don't want an uncertain outcome".
"The last thing this economy needs is eight weeks of coalition talks, things dragged out, people going backwards and forwards," he said.
"What we need is a strong, decisive result on election night. A strong mandate and I believe most New Zealanders want a mandate for change. They want a change of government."
But Labour's campaign chair Megan Woods claims the National Party's "Winston gamble" has completely misfired on them.
Woods told AM it shows a complete lack of judgement from National Party leader Christopher Luxon.
"We're not going to go into a coalition deal with Winston Peters and what we're seeing now is the National Party's Winston gamble has completely backfired on them. The wheels are coming off," she said.
"The chaos we're seeing because Chris Luxon ruled Winston Peters in and now he's ruling them out. This is the kind of chaos that New Zealand cannot take at the moment and it shows a complete lack of judgment on Chris Luxon's part."
Woods believes this is just the latest saga involving the right bloc of National-ACT-New Zealand First and shows Kiwis what to expect if National wins the election.
"We've been crystal clear so we were not in that position. We do not want this chaotic kind of arrangement and we've been clear with New Zealanders we won't work with them," she said.
"What we're seeing now is the kind of government that we would have if we had Christopher Luxon as Prime Minister. Chris Hipkins has shown his experience and told New Zealand straight up what they're in for."
When asked if National had ruled out New Zealand First as early as Labour had, if Peters would still be soaring in the polls, Woods believed he wouldn't be.
"Why would people be voting for someone who wasn't able to form a government for everyone?
"But look, Chris Luxon has vacillated on this. He's going back and forward and this is the kind of knock the economy can't take, just as we're getting things back on track, we need stability."
Part of National's ad said there could be "8 weeks of coalition talks" but Peters said National is lying.
He said he did coalition talks with Labour in 2017 in 11 days after special votes.
But Bishop said Kiwis will remember previous elections where negotiations had taken "quite a long time".
"I'm not trying to be condescending in the slightest. There'll be people listening and watching and every three years when the MMP election rolls around, you do hear people say, 'I'm going to help out the major party by doing something'.
"Actually, the simplest way to change the government is to vote for National."
