New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern’s Labour Party got re-elected on Saturday, as an appreciation for her proactiveness towards responding to the coronavirus pandemic.
With 98% of the vote counted, Labour had 49% of the vote. The center-right National Party, the second largest in the country, took about 27% of the vote, losing up to 19 seats in the 119-seat Parliament, including many it held for years, Radio New Zealand reported.
YOU MAY ALSO LIKE: Cardi B Explains Why She Called Off Divorce And Got Back With Offset
It was the highest win for the Labour Party in 50 years and means that the 40-year-old leader can form the first single-party government since the country introduced its current system for electing members of Parliament in 1996, according to the Guardian.
With the above, Ardern will now have the chance to try to deliver more progressive policies that she was unable to deliver in her first term when her party shared power with a smaller party.
Delivering her victory speech Ardern said, “After this result, we have the mandate to accelerate our response and our recovery, and tomorrow, we start. We know the next few years will not be easy. The last few have not been easy either, but there have been chinks of light that have shone through even the darkest of times.
“So again, I say thank you. This has not been an ordinary election and this has not been an ordinary time,” she added.
