Labour yet to plan coalition talks, cabinet positions after historic win - Megan Woods

October 18, 2020

Woods says there’s no plan yet for coalition talks or cabinet positions.

Megan Woods, Labour’s campaign chair for the 2020 election, says the party is still taking stock after last night’s “extraordinary” results and hasn’t considered its next steps yet.

Woods said there were still “conversations to be had” in the “coming hours and days” to decide whether Labour will enter into a coalition agreement or govern alone.

“We won’t see decisions on that today. We want to try and build as much consensus as possible,” she said.

Senior Labour members are meeting in Auckland today to start discussing a plan, Woods said. 

She also said it would be up to the Prime Minister to decide cabinet positions, but these had not been decided yet.

The party will also be waiting for the final results to come from the special votes, Woods said. There are still about half a million left to count. 

“There’s quite a bit to play out yet. We also want to take a moment to celebrate the faith that New Zealanders have put in us as a Government.”

The party also received support from first-time Labour voters, and it was “not something we’re taking for granted”, Woods said.

“We know that we’ve got a clear mandate for the plan we’ve been rolling out.

“That will be our number one priority - continuing to roll out that recovery plan.”

She said Labour’s taking of Christchurch’s Ilam from long-time National's deputy leader Gerry Brownlee was “unexpected”. Brownlee has held it since 1996, when it was created.

“I know Sarah Pallet, our candidate there, is going to be taking some time to think about what is the style of MP that the people of Ilam want now and what she needs to do there.”

Current results has Labour on 49 per cent of the party vote - giving it 64 seats and allowing it to govern alone.

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