WELLINGTON, Nov 8 (Reuters) - Qiulae Wong has been a politician for less than a year, but the 38-year-old could hold the balance of power in New Zealand's parliament after initial counting in Saturday's general election ended without a clear victor.
Prime Minister Christopher Luxon's centre-right coalition could govern with a majority of just two seats, Electoral Commission preliminary results showed, but that slim margin could disappear once special votes, which typically favour the left, are released at the official count on November 27.
That would mean either a centre-right or centre-left bloc would require the support of Wong's centrist Opportunity Party, which looks likely to enter parliament for the first time. Either Luxon's National party or Labour, led by Chris Hipkins, are expected to try to form a coalition government in the coming days or weeks.
Wong, a former sustainable-business consultant, answered a job advertisement to head the decade-old party, taking over in November 2025.
She quickly oversaw a rebrand and dramatic rise in Opportunity's popularity, and its current vote share of 5.96% would give it seven seats in a 131-member parliament, Electoral Commission data showed.
"It might seem like we've just arrived, that this is an overnight success, but to many in this room, this result has been a long time coming," Wong told cheering supporters in Auckland on Saturday night.
SWEEPING TAX PROPOSALS
Opportunity's flagship policies centre on tax, with an annual NZ$19,400 ($10,800) universal basic income for most New Zealand residents funded by a 1.75% annual land tax. The party also wants to simplify the country's income tax system.
“There's also been a shift globally around seeing the need to tax work less and tax wealth more or tax assets more. And so that's what this tax reset package is designed to do: take some of the burden off income tax and place that onto property,” Wong told Reuters in an interview in August.
A basic income for residents would be a first for a developed economy. Dozens of countries have land taxes, but they usually exclude primary residences, unlike Opportunity's proposal.
National and Labour have both ruled out adopting Opportunity's tax policies, while Luxon has said dozens of times during campaigning he would not enter into coalition with Opportunity.
Wong has said she would look to negotiate with the party that secures the largest number of seats in parliament and that it would be possible to find common ground with National or Labour.
"There are different forms of us working with other parties, whether that's coalition, confidence and supply, being on the crossbenches, and all of those options are on the table for us right now," she told public broadcaster TVNZ on Saturday.
"We have to we have to look at how the votes land."
($1 = 1.8034 New Zealand dollars)
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Wellington; Editing by William Mallard)
