App users click here to watch the stream.
Incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon is planning to work through coalition agreements in private after the right bloc overwhelmed Labour in the election.
On Saturday night Labour leader and incumbent Prime Minister Chris Hipkins conceded the election to Luxon, who will become New Zealand's 42nd Prime Minister.
It was an impressive victory for the National Party – which on current numbers, would have enough votes to form a coalition government with just ACT. But with special votes still to come, Luxon isn't ruling anything out.
It was a brutal night for Labour which will likely lose several of its MPs who rode in on Labour's red wave in the 2020 election.
But the Greens and Te Pāti Māori both had a good night winning three and four electorates respectively.
NZ First also had a good night propelling itself back into Parliament although it's not yet clear whether the party will be in government yet.
What you need to know:
- Chris Hipkins called Christopher Luxon on Saturday night to concede the election.
- Luxon thanked supporters on Saturday night, saying he was "immensely proud".
- An emotional Hipkins told supporters he was disappointed but "gave it his all".
- Vote breakdown with 100 percent of preliminary results counted: National (38.95%), Labour (26.9%), Greens (10.77%), ACT (8.98%), NZ First (6.46%), Te Pāti Māori (2.61%)
- Te Pāti Māori's Hana-Rawhiti Maipi-Clarke looks likely to become one of New Zealand's youngest MPs at 21 years of age after Labour's Nanaia Mahuta conceded defeat in the Hauraki-Waikato electorate.
Refresh the page for the latest updates.
7:00pm - Christopher Luxon has had a meteoric rise to the top of the political ladder, but who is he? The Project found out.
6:10pm - Newshub political reporter Amelia Wade reports Christopher Luxon has said that negotiations will be happening individually with ACT and NZ First so that will avoid an awkward three-way where they all hammer out the details together in a room.
But National is really keen to keep a lid on the goings-on and doesn't even want to see reports of what biscuits leaders are taking to negotiations like we've seen in other years. Luxon is even refusing to say who's on his negotiating team.
But we do understand ACT wants to focus discussions on cutting spending, cutting regulation and redefining the role of the Treaty - however Luxon is continuing to rule out a referendum.
Also up for negotiation is who gets the role of deputy prime minister. ACT could be prepared to let National offer NZ First so that ACT can get more policy wins.
For more on Amelia's story click here.
5:20pm - Nigel Farage, the former leader of UKIP and the Brexit party in the UK and now presenter on the right-wing news channel GB News has congratulated his "old friend" Winston Peters for getting back into Parliament.
5:00pm - The electoral commission has issued a press release outling the next steps in the Port Waikato by-election.
The by-election was triggered after the death of the Act Party candidate for Port Waikato, Neil Christensen.
The statement says:
The next step in the preparations for the Port Waikato by-election has taken place today with the Governor-General issuing the writ for the by-election to be held. The by-election follows the death of a Port Waikato electorate candidate in the 2023 General Election.
The Rt Hon Dame Cindy Kiro has given the Electoral Commission the formal direction and authority to conduct the by-election in the Port Waikato electorate on Saturday 25 November 2023.
The writ sets out the dates for candidate nominations, election day, and the last day for the return of the writ naming the successful candidate.
Nominations for candidates close at noon, Friday 20 October, and the last day for the return of the writ naming the successful candidate is Friday 15 December. You can enrol and vote in the by-election if you are eligible to vote in New Zealand elections and you’ve lived in the Port Waikato electorate for more than one month.
Voters in New Zealand can enrol right up to and on election day, 25 November, at vote.nz or at an advance voting place once voting starts. Voters who are overseas will need to enrol by midnight 24 November.
New legislation that came into effect earlier this year means that enrolled voters of Māori descent will not be able to change from the Māori roll to the Port Waikato general roll before the by-election is held, but can make the change after the by-election. The Port Waikato electorate is south of the Manukau Harbour and includes Clarks Beach, Waiuku, Pukekohe, Pōkeno and Te Kauwhata in the south.
- Key dates for the Port Waikato by-election:
- Friday 20 October candidate nominations close at noon
- Wednesday 8 November overseas voting starts
- Monday 13 November advance voting starts
- Saturday 25 November election day, voting closes at 7pm. Preliminary results will be announced later that night.
4:50pm - Christopher Luxon responded to Elon Musk's message on X congratulating him by saying he doesn't know the billionaire.
The X owner replied to a post from Luxon about his election win saying: "Congratulations and thank goodness!"
"Elon Musk has congratulated you on your win and said 'thank goodness'. What do you think you meant by that?" AM host Bridge asked Luxon on Monday morning.
"I'm not sure, I don't know him actually," Luxon replied.
"So um, I haven't met him. But yeah, we've had congratulations from lots of people, which has been great."
4:15pm - Christopher Luxon has welcomed the new National MPs to Parliament.
4:00pm - Luxon said in his time as a politician he has read a lot of punditry and it is not always right. " I am not interested in too many people's reckons. There are a lot of people with their reckons and they are not always right."
He said his preference is to form a two-party coalition but he will wait and see how things play out.
Luxon also stood by comments he made earlier in the day that a referendum on the Treaty of Waitangi is divisive and it would be unhelpful.
3:40pm - Luxon is refusing to get drawn on giving away too many details about a coalition. He said there are lot of people with an opinion and they could be wrong. He repeatedly tells reporters he appreciates there is a lot of interest in the potential coalition but he is "not getting into it."
He said "New Zealanders want me to deliver a strong and stable Government."
Luxon told reporters National is focussed on three things: Waiting for the 570,000 special votes to be counted and seeing the dynamics that play out when they are.
He said they are working hard on the relationships with various parties, confidentially. They are going to do that in private, and won't be doing that through the media.
And thirdly they are working through the transition with the outgoing Government.
3:30pm - Luxon says the National Party has spoken to Winston Peters' people. He said they are going to go to work with the parties involved and work with that.
National has to form a Government and is going to work with the party leaders.
3:15pm – Incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon will speak to media outside Parliament shortly.
2:47pm – Incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has arrived in Wellington in a jovial mood.
"We are here in Wellington, beautiful day, new National government, the All Blacks are winning, everything is good in the world," Luxon said.
He added he's ready to get to work and change things for people.
1:39pm - Sarah Pallett says she's "doing really well" after losing her Ilam seat to National's Hamish Campbell.
"It was exactly what we expected to be honest. As soon as Raf [Manji] entered the field for Ilam I knew what would happen would be what happened in 2017 – which is what we saw."
"Obviously it’s really disappointing we worked really hard but it is what it is. Politics is a funny beast."
Pallett confirmed as it stands she is out of Parliament and isn't sure what she's doing next.
1:34pm - National's Gerry Brownlee says the next few weeks will be preparing to govern. He refused to comment on whether he wanted to be the Speaker.
12:36pm - Labour's Ingrid Leary says she's incredibly grateful to the people of Taieri for re-electing her.
"The margin was closer than I would have liked but I feel incredibly grateful to the people of Taieri. Very honoured and privileged to be their MP again and over the course of the weekend I have had a greater appreciation of what an achievement it was to actually do that given the trend of those urban-rural seats flipping.
"Overall I am extremely happy and proud and humbled."
Leary says she's also gutted for the marginalised communities who "need a left-wing government".
But she is looking forward to the challenge of being in opposition.
12:16pm - National's Louise Upston says she is very "pleased" with the results of the election.
She plans to spend her next few days thanking her supporters and welcoming new MPs.
"I just wanted to come down and be part of welcoming the new MPs to our team and there are also a few colleagues who will be leaving tomorrow," she says.
12:13pm - ACT's Simon Court says his party is focused on improving economic productivity so "we can all share in the prosperity".
Court also said improving education is incredibly important.
12:05pm - National MP Todd McClay says the party wants to build a strong relationship based on trust with ACT and NZ First over the next few weeks.
McClay also thanked the people of Rotorua for voting him in. He says he's focused on working hard to restore Rotorua as a great, safe tourist destination.
11:12am - Labour's Willie Jackson says he's feeling "all good" and "that's democracy". Jackson also revealed he congratulated Seymour on his results.
"I am just going to see how the team is first. We've got to see what Chippy wants to do and hopefully he wants to stay," he said.
He says Labour still has a Māori caucus of nine but he is "disappointed" by the Māori seats they lost.
10:48am - ACT's David Seymour and the Green Party's Chlöe Swarbrick joined AM to discuss the election.
Watch the full interview below.
10:35am - New Green MP Hūhana Lyndon says the election was a great result for her party but the country is facing serious problems such as infrastructure.
10:32am - Labour's Carmel Sepuloni says she will sit down with her team and figure out the future. When asked if she had leadership ambitions, Sepuloni said it wasn't front of mind but refused to answer whether she thought she would make a good leader.
10:30am - Te Pāti Māori co-leader Rawiri Waititi says he's elated with the votes so far but isn’t taking anything for granted before the special votes are counted.
Waititi says he hasn't been called by National.
10:27am - ACT leader David Seymour says he's ready to get into the office and welcome his new MPs.
He says the conversations with Luxon are "really positive" and they're working through the details now.
He says they will keep negotiations discreet.
"People voted for change and they deserve change with political stability."
He also softened his stance on working with NZ First, saying ACT and National have to work with what the people have given them. But he reiterated his view an ACT-National coalition would be more stable.
10:22am - Damien O'Connor said "at least the rugby was good for New Zealand" when asked about Saturday's result.
When asked how he lost his electorate of West Coast-Tasman, O'Connor simply said "not enough people voted for me".
9:39am - One of the few new MPs Labour is bringing into Parliament is new Christchurch East MP Reuben Davidson.
Davidson says he's feeling great and ready to get stuck into opposition and represent his electorate.
9:37am - Labour's Megan Woods says the question of her party's leadership hasn't come in. She says she has no doubt her party still has confidence in Chris Hipkins as a leader.
Woods says the election result wasn't one she "hoped for or wanted" but she is planning to see out the term.
9:11am - Labour's Jan Tinetti says the election results are disappointing but she's looking forward to her new job in Opposition.
She said the result didn't surprise her because in the last couple of weeks she "became quite realistic about it".
Tinetti said the country has spoken and she's "thinking about the job ahead".
9:08am - Incoming Finance Minister Nicola Willis told reporters outside Parliament "National is going to bring it."
Willis added, "The sky is blue, the future is blue".
9:04am - New Green list MP Steve Abel said his party's results are "a banner of hope in an otherwise somewhat poor outcome for the country".
"It's an amazing turnout for the Greens to have this surge of new MPs and incredible success winning back Auckland Central and also Wellington and Rongotai so if feels really good for us."
9:03am - Christopher Luxon says he's standing by his party's view that a Treaty of Waitangi referendum would be "divisive" and "unhelpful" for New Zealand.
It comes after Green Party co-leader James Shaw told Stuff there could be violence and wide-scale social disruption if ACT Party leader David Seymour successfully negotiates a referendum on the Treaty of Waitangi’s principles.
When asked about the prospect of there being a referendum on the Treaty of Waitangi’s principles, Luxon said National's position is clear.
"Our view very clearly during the campaign has been that we think it is divisive and it would be unhelpful. So again, we'll get our way through those issues with the respective parties," he told AM.
"I'm just not going to play the rule-in, rule-out game. Our position is really clear on that. We've felt very strongly that a referendum would be divisive but again, I'm not wanting to negotiate through the media."
8:57am - Labour's David Parker said he is obviously disappointed by the election group but "we now have to regroup and farewell the people who lost and say hello to newcomers."
Parker wouldn't comment on his political future simply saying, "That's not for today".
He said they are still a caretaker government and in the weeks to come they will do what they have to.
8:47am - New Tukituki electorate MP National's Catherine Wedd says she's excited to get to work.
Wedd said she doesn't have any portfolios in mind and it will be up to Christopher Luoxn.
8:40am - Luxon told AM's Ryan Bridge his and Winston Peters' "teams have spoken", amid speculation about whether NZ First will be included in the ACT and National coalition."
"Our teams are spoken and we'll work our way through that," Luxon said.
He said, "Over the next three weeks we'll be looking to progress and use the time constructively".
8:28am - Councillor Josephine Bartley told AM that people on the ground are telling her the COVID-19 lockdowns damaged their belief in Labour.
Bartley said lots of people she talked to said they wouldn't go so far as to vote for National and instead chose not to vote at all.
8:20am - ACT leader David Seymour is calling on New Zealand First to "front up" and say what it wants the new government to achieve as coalition negotiations become the new focus.
On November 3 Aotearoa will have a clear picture of what its new government will look like, with half a million special votes to be counted by then.
Seymour believes the "right way to proceed" would be for National and ACT to negotiate with each other first before calling in NZ First leader Winston Peters.
He told AM the three parties should prepare for both situations - a three-way coalition or a National and ACT one.
"I think ultimately we look at the prospect of a three-way negotiation, we welcome all voices to the table."
The ACT leader told AM if New Zealand First wants to be a part of that discussion, then they "should front up" and declare what they want the new government to achieve and what they can contribute to it.
If New Zealand First don't want that, Seymour told AM ACT and National should "hammer out a deal" before the special votes come in.
"I think the New Zealand people will expect us to be ready to hit the ground running when that three weeks is up."
Read the full story here.
8:13am - Christopher Luxon told AM co-host Ryan Bridge he won't be revealing any coalition details before all the special votes are counted because he is focused on creating a "strong stable government".
"There are three things we have to do in this next period and the first is recognise there are 570,000 special votes that still need to be counted, that's part of our democracy and we need to respect that vote," Luxon said.
"There are a lot of dynamics at play with special votes that means it could be the same as normally in terms of how it breaks or it could be different based on a lot of people travelling, there's a lot of folks who were frustrated around MIQ so that could be a different set of results.
"The second thing is I do want to use the next three weeks to get going and build the relationships and start to talk about arrangements with respect to parties. We will move at the paces they want to move at and each of them will be different.
"We will then have to see where we are with regards to special votes before we lock something in.
"I want to build a strong stable government which means you have to have good relationships at the base of everything. And then we work our way transaction through the issues and the differences we have."
7:57am – A political commentator and ex-MP is warning National and ACT could face problems if they negotiate with New Zealand First.
National cruised to an election victory on Saturday night, landing almost 39 percent of the vote. But attention has now turned to the make-up of the coalition.
National and ACT have a very slim majority with 61 seats together in a 121-seat Parliament, but history shows the special votes tend to favour the left. National's campaign chair Chris Bishop backed up that sentiment, saying on Sunday National expects to lose "at least one" seat.
Political commentator, Peter Dunne told AM the special votes might be different this year with a lot of them made up of "COVID exiles", so he thinks it might not favour the left as much as it has in the past.
But National should gain a seat when the Port Waikato by-election is held in late November, with its candidate the heavy favourite.
Dunne told AM co-host Ryan Bridge if National is "prudent" they would do some sort of deal with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters to shore up what could be a slim National-ACT majority.
Read more here.
