WELLINGTON: Three New Zealand political parties announced on Friday the line-up for a new coalition government after weeks of negotiations.
The new coalition government of National Party, ACT New Zealand party and New Zealand First party will be stable, effective and will deliver for all New Zealanders, Xinhua quoted National’s leader and incoming Prime Minister Christopher Luxon as saying during the signing ceremony at the parliament.
NZ First’s leader Winston Peters will be deputy prime minister for the first half of the three-year parliamentary term, and ACT’s leader David Seymour will be deputy prime minister for the second half of the term.
Peters will be foreign minister and Seymour will be minister for regulation assessing the quality of new and existing regulations.
The 20-strong cabinet will have 14 National ministers, three ACT ministers and three NZ First ministers. National’s Nicola Willis will be the finance minister.
The new government will be sworn in on Monday.
“Despite the challenging economic environment, New Zealanders can look forward to a better future because of the changes the new government will make,” Luxon said after signing the deal to form the new coalition.
The incoming prime minister said the new government will ease the cost of living and deliver tax relief, restore law and order, and deliver better public services.
The National Party won the general election on Oct 14, with the Labor Party to step down after six years in office. However, with no party winning a majority of seats, the formation of a new government depended on the outcome of interparty negotiations to form a coalition government.
New Zealand uses the Mixed Member Proportional voting system to elect its parliament. Under this system, the government is usually formed by two or more parliamentary political parties. – BERNAMA-XINHUA
