New Zealand’s second Tongan speaking Member of Parliament Anahila Suisuiki Kanongataʻa said she made a silent prayer after Labour’s election results last night had allowed her to enter parliament.
Two other Tongan MPs in parliament were Tongan speaking MP Jenny Salesa and MP Carmel Sepuloni who is of Tongan descent through her father.
Kanongata’a said it was a massive power and love of God that had given her the opportunity to join parliament. She said she prayed to the Lord to help her in her political journey.
New Zealand’s voting system known as Mixed Member Proportional or MMP meant a political party’s total number of seats in Parliament is filled with a mix of Electorate MPs and List MPs.
100% of results have now been counted and this is how the next parliament will, probably, look:
National 46.0%, 58 seats
Labour 35.8%, 45 seats
New Zealand First 7.5%, 9 seats
Green party 5.8%, 7 seats
ACT, 0.5%, 1 seat
The Opportunities party (TOP) 2.2%, 0 seats
Māori party 1.1%, 0 seats
The threshold to secure a seat in parliament is 5% of the party vote or an electorate win, which is how ACT finds its way in, with party leader David Seymour winning in Epsom.
The full list of results is available on the Electoral Commission site.
A final tally, including overseas votes, will be released on Oct. 7.
As it stands, the ultimate result meant both National and Labour needed the support of NZ First’s Winston Peters to form a government under New Zealand’s proportional representation system.
Peters had served in previous Labour and National governments.
“He told reporters on Sunday he had not yet received any calls from National or Labour, and had not contacted them.”
