New Zealand election limbo continues as kingmaker talks end with indecision

New Zealand has been left in electoral limbo again after kingmaker Winston Peters said his board and caucus had failed to reach a decision about which major party to support in government.

Peters said on Tuesday that his board had been sent home and he had withdrawn his commitment to make a decision by the end of this week. The New Zealand First leader has instead held secret meetings with Labour’s Jacinda Ardern and the Nationals’ Bill English at parliament house in Wellington.

The New Zealand Herald reported it saw Peters meet with Bill English straight after concluding meetings with his board late on Tuesday afternoon. A little while later the Herald reported seeing Ardern enter parliament via a secret entrance to meet with the NZ First leader as well.

“We’ve got things to finish off as urgently as we can, sorting out differences of calculations and opinions and trying to make sure we’ve got, with both sides, a clear understanding,” Peters said in a press conference at parliament house in Wellington.

“We’ve spent a couple of days on very comprehensive discussions and preparations for the party to make a final decision. The board’s engagement in terms of that work is complete.

“We are going to try and press on and complete this decision as fast as possible.”

Peters originally said he would make a decision by 12 October. When that deadline came and went, Peters changed it to the end of this week. Now it is unclear whether he will meet that deadline either.

Previously, Peters said his board had the final say on which way NZ First would go. He convened the mysterious group of men and women from around the country to Wellington.

Peters met with the board and his caucus on Monday and Tuesday, after spending all of last week in negotiations with Labour and National.

None of the parties involved in discussions revealed any hint of which way Peters was expected to go and have scarcely spoken to media, though Labour’s deputy Kelvin Davis did say the negotiations had been “very nice”.

Peters said all nine options of how the next government would look were still on the table.

“We are 98% there on policy issues,” Peters said in a statement on Facebook, suggesting that only the final details of a deal were yet to be settled on, such as ministerial portfolios for NZ First MPs.

After the 23 September election the National party was left with 56 seats and Labour 46 – both short of the 61 needed to form a government in the 120-seat parliament. NZ First has nine seats. The Green party, with eight seats, has thrown its support behind Labour. A National/NZ First government would have 65 seats, while a Labour/Greens/NZ First government would have 63 seats.