The no-longer alone ACT leader says he is feeling mixed after his party's huge leap in election 2020 amid a Labour landslide.
"I don't like the results overall but I want to congratulate Jacinda Ardern for doing something quite historic, we've never had one party rule under MMP," David Seymour told TVNZ1's Q+A today.
He said a strong Opposition was critical and that ACT would play an important role in keeping the Government to account.
"This has been a rapid rise, but we did actually prepare for it."
ACT is bringing in nine new MPs.
Q+A reporter Whena Owen was with party faithful on election night as results came in.
"Everyone has to be a new MP at some point," Seymour said.
"The experience a lot of these folks have actually is better than being a politician."
"We're going to have a really talented group of people from all walks of life with a lot of different experiences. I think people are going to be impressed by the ACT team.
Seymour put down ACT's success to having a campaign "about how do we listen and hear people's concerns and aspirations in this very uncertain time".
When asked if he would miss NZ First's Winston Peters and if it was an end of an era, Seymour said, "an era or an error".
The pair had been embroiled in many spats, including a Twitter quarrel where Peters backed himself in a physical fight against Seymour, with Seymour saying Peters would "soon be retired and will require a care worker to help him get dressed and go for a walk".
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