New Zealand's Ardern wins 2nd term in election landslide - Fox News

AUCKLAND, New Zealand — New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern won a second term in office Saturday in an election landslide of historic proportions.

Typically, parties must form alliances to govern, but this time Ardern and Labour can go it alone.

In a victory speech in front of hundreds of cheering supporters in Auckland, Ardern said her party had gotten more support from New Zealanders that at any time in at least 50 years.

“This has not been an ordinary election, and it's not an ordinary time,” she said.

New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern gestures as she gives her victory speech to Labour Party members at an event in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, Oct.

In late March this year, when only about 100 people had tested positive for COVID-19, Ardern and her health officials put New Zealand into a strict lockdown with a motto of “Go hard and go early.” She shut the borders and outlined an ambitious goal of eliminating the virus entirely rather than just trying to control its spread.

The Auckland outbreak also prompted Ardern to postpone the election by a month and helped increase the early voter turnout.

In a speech to her supporters in Auckland, Collins said she'd called Ardern to congratulate her.

The election also saw Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and his small New Zealand First party voted out.

Labour Minister David Parker said it was a landslide win for his party.

“It’s a tremendous accolade first and foremost to the prime minister, but also to the wider Labour team and the Labour movement,” he said.

In the election, voters also had a say on two contentious social issues — whether to legalize marijuana and euthanasia.