What to know about the 2023 New Zealand elections

New Zealanders head to the polls on October 14 for the country’s general elections. Chris Hipkins, Labour Party – Prime Minister Hipkins’s Labour Party is seeking another term in office, but polls suggest the centre-right opposition National Party is likely to win the most seats and could return to government with the help of coalition partners. Having promised not to form a coalition with his party’s closest rival, the National Party, Hipkins remains optimistic Labour will win, telling reporters: “I look forward to being back here in three years time as Prime Minister seeking another term.” Christopher Luxon, National Party – Luxon, 52, comes from a business background. The party has said its preferred partner is ACT party, but that it is also prepared to discuss partnering with New Zealand First. “There is still an outside chance of polling error, but barring the polls being mistaken or some kind of sudden lurch to the left, it seems like National will win.” David Seymour, ACT New Zealand Party – The country’s third largest political party, ACT has been campaigning for welfare and government spending cuts, but it has also been talking about reducing the rights of Indigenous Maori people, who make up just over 16 percent of the country’s population of five million.