Wellington — Both of New Zealand’s major political parties moved to open coalition negotiations with maverick MP Winston Peters Sunday after the country’s general election stalemate left him in the position of kingmaker. Prime Minister Bill English was looking for his National Party to stitch up a deal as soon as possible, while Jacinda Ardern’s opposition Labour Party was keen to wait until all postal and overseas votes are counted in two weeks before final deal is cut. English appeared to be in the driving seat to form a government due to tensions among the opposition parties that would need to unite to unseat him. His National Party performed strongly in Saturday’s election to claim 46.0% of the vote and 58 seats, three short of the 61 needed to win. Labour, under charismatic newcomer Jacinda Ardern, polled 35.8% to take 45 seats, although that rises to 52 if the seven seats of close ally the Greens are included. It means both English and Ardern would need the nine seats held by ...
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