Labour leader Jacinda Ardern has not ruled out working alongside the Green Party in the next Government.
Ardern today said she has spoken to Green Party co-leaders James Shaw and Marama Davidson after the success of both parties in last night's General Election.
Labour claimed a landslide win in the election with 49.1 per cent of votes to National’s 26.8 per cent. The Greens pulled 7.6 per cent of the vote.
The result means Ardern's party gains 64 seats to National's 35 seats. The Greens will have 10 seats.
"I've had a very brief conversation with James Shaw acknowledging the Green Party's success overnight as well, and of course I placed a call with Marama Davidson also," Ardern said one day after the election.
Ardern would not rule them out of the formation of the next Government, which will be formed "in the next two to three weeks".
"You know, and everyone will have seen, that I have been a consensus builder, but I also need to work with the mandate that Labour has been given as well, and I have said to the Greens that I will talk to them next week," she said.
"I don’t want to draw any conclusion at this point. What is clear is that we do have that mandate to press ahead and form government, but at the same time, I have worked to build consensus over the past."
Potentially working with the Māori Party, which is set to re-enter Parliament after Rawiri Waititi won the Waiariki seat over Labour's Tāmati Coffey, was more complicated, Ardern said.
Ardern added that Labour "hotly contest[ing] Māori seats with the Māori Party" meant it "does add some complication there".
"Whilst I will continue to seek to be a consensus builder, I also want straightforward arrangements for this next term of office," she said.
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