Within the next two or three days, New Zealand’s Prime Minister Bill English will be talking to NZ First leader Winston Peters about forming a fourth term National‑led government.
Yesterday’s election gave National 58 seats, well ahead of Labour's 45.
Labour's ally, the Greens, won seven seats and the two parties together were still well short of National.
English says in the next few days they will begin negotiations with NZ First and they intend to form a strong, stable government.
Labour's Jacinda Ardern, after being party leader for just seven weeks, called English to acknowledge National had won the most seats but said it was not over yet.
NZ First holds nine seats, which with National's 58 would be a strong majority coalition government in the 120‑member parliament.
The turnout in New Zealand’s 2017 general election is up compared to the previous two elections.
The Electoral Commission says 78.8 per cent of those eligible to enrol have voted in the 2017 election.
According to the preliminary results released last night, National won 58 seats, to Labour's 45.
The official election result is expected to be declared on October 7th.
Source: NZ Herald
