New Zealand parliamentary elections postponed for four weeks due to coronavirus

The legislative elections in New Zealand are postponed for four weeks due to a return of the coronavirus pandemic, Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern announced on Monday. The elections, which were to take place on September 19, are postponed until October 17.

“ This decision gives all parties time to campaign over the next nine weeks and gives the Election Commission enough time to ensure that an election can go ahead, ” Ms. Ardern said.

Read also: Coronavirus: the pace of vaccine orders is accelerating

The center-left prime minister was under pressure to postpone the date of the elections since all parties suspended their campaigns due to the return of the pandemic recorded last week and whose origin remains unknown.

New Zealand is recently faced with a resumption of contaminations which has led to a new containment of Auckland, the largest city in the country. Ms Ardern on Friday ordered the containment of Auckland until August 26 in order to prevent a second wave of Covid-19.

Great anxiety

The Prime Minister admitted that there was great anxiety in the country over the return of the virus, which was detected in four people in Auckland last Tuesday. On Sunday, the outbreak spotted in this city reached 49 confirmed cases. Ms Ardern said she spent the weekend consulting with party leaders and the Election Commission on the date of the election.

Read also: Coronavirus: New Zealand extends Auckland reconfinement

She said the postponement meant that all parties would campaign on the same terms and that she would not change the new October 17 date regardless of the situation. “ I have absolutely no intention of changing that, ” she insisted.

Ms Ardern is in a very good position in the polls, with a record popularity rate of some 60% which she owes to her handling of the pandemic, the Christchurch mosque bombing last year and the eruption volcanic area of ​​White Island.

His Labor Party is in a position to win the election on its own, without the help of the small parties with which it was in coalition during the coming legislature.