Christopher Luxon secured a second term as New Zealand's prime minister on Saturday. Preliminary results from the Electoral Commission showed his National Party, ACT and NZ First holding enough seats to form another coalition government. Labour leader Chris Hipkins conceded that the centre-left bloc lacked the numbers to govern.

The election, which Luxon announced earlier in the year for 7 November, was fought largely over the cost of living and a sluggish economy. Unemployment had risen and the Reserve Bank of New Zealand had cut interest rates repeatedly to revive growth, before raising them again in 2026. Labour, the Greens and Te Pāti Māori had run close to the governing parties in opinion polls for much of the campaign.

NZ First, led by Winston Peters, again emerged as the pivotal force in the result. The party's share of the vote rose sharply from 2023, according to the Electoral Commission's election-night count. That strengthens Peters' hand in coalition talks with National, and it is likely to come at the expense of ACT and its leader, David Seymour. Peters told supporters in Auckland that his party would not be taken for granted in negotiations.

Hipkins told Labour supporters in his Remutaka electorate that the party had narrowed the gap but fallen short. Luxon told a National Party gathering in Auckland that voters had backed his plan to rebuild the economy. He said he would begin talks with his coalition partners immediately.

Analysts at Victoria University of Wellington noted that an incumbent government winning a second term fitted a long pattern in New Zealand politics, where no first-term government has been ousted since 1975.

The preliminary count excludes special votes, which typically favour left-leaning parties and can shift one or two seats. The Electoral Commission is due to publish the official result later in November. The final seat allocation could still affect the balance of power between National's coalition partners.