Wellington, New Zealand — Prime Minister of New Zealand Christopher Luxon Said on Tuesday that he had survived a vote on his leadership among lawmakers from his own party, following a recent decline in the polls amid speculation he could be ousted.
The vote was held privately during a regular meeting of lawmakers from Luxon’s center-right National Party. However, Luxon later emerged and told reporters that he had called for a vote of confidence, in which he was successful.
“Last week, there was intense speculation in the media about my leadership,” Luxon said. He also said that he had called for a vote of confidence “to put an end to media speculation”.
He did not provide details of the vote or say whether it was unanimous.
National has governed New Zealand in a right-wing coalition government since the 2023 election. Laksan, a former airline executive who entered Parliament in 2000, has led the party since 2021.
Voting among their MPs took place months ago New Zealand’s next national electionScheduled for November 7. A recent decline in the polls for National had led analysts to speculate that he would face a leadership challenge.
After an unusually long meeting of his caucus in Parliament in Wellington, which lasted two and a half hours instead of the usual hour, Luxon read a brief statement about the vote. He left without asking any questions from the journalists.
While New Zealand’s two recent prime ministers – National’s John Key and Labour’s Jacinda Ardern – have voluntarily stepped down, it would have been highly unusual for MPs to remove a sitting prime minister.
Luxon blamed reports of unrest within his party on news outlets, but a political poll released a few days earlier made a leadership discussion inevitable. A 1News-Varian poll suggested a decline in support for Luxon and National in a hypothetical election.
Support levels in the most recent poll suggest his party-led right-wing bloc could come in behind the Labour-led left-wing bloc if a snap election were held, although voting would not take place for more than six months.
“If the media wants to keep focusing on speculation and rumors, I’m not going to engage in that,” Luxon said Tuesday.
