New Zealand's conservative Prime Minister John Key swept to a historic election victory on Saturday, securing a third term as voters ignored campaign allegations of dirty tricks and mass spying. The resounding win makes Key the first New Zealand leader able to govern in his own right since proportional voting was introduced in 1996 and means his centre-right National Party has increased its vote in all three elections he has contested.
"I'm ecstatic, it's a great night," the 53-year-old former currency trader said after a result that confounded opinion poll predictions of a tight race. "It was a tough campaign but I think that people could see the country was on the right direction and they rewarded us. I'm just very grateful," he added. National won 61 of 121 parliamentary seats, up from 59 at the last election in 2011, while the main opposition Labour Party managed only 32, down two, after its worst performance since the 1920s.
Labour leader David Cunliffe, facing questions over his future, said it was time to rebuild the centre-left party, not lay blame. "I'm certainly happy to take my share of blame for this result, but I'm getting consistent feedback from people that they want me to muscle up, to carry on and drive through the change that we need," he said. The Internet-Mana party, bankrolled by flamboyant tech mogul Kim Dotcom in a bid to oust Key, did not win a single seat after attracting only 1.26 percent of the vote, with the German national blaming himself for the failure.
"I'm sorry. I take full responsibility for this loss tonight because the brand Kim Dotcom was poison for what we were trying to achieve and that only became apparent to me in the last couple of weeks," he said. Support for the Greens slipped 1.1 percent to 10.0 percent, well short of the 15 percent it was targeting while the populist New Zealand First Party (NZF) increased its number of seats from 7 to 11.