Luxon and Hipkins make final campaign push before 7 November election

Election day is 7 November, and Prime Minister Christopher Luxon and Labour leader Chris Hipkins are in the final days of campaigning. RNZ, which is running live coverage of the campaign, gave the date in its update published on 6 November.

The main contest is between Luxon's centre-right National Party and the centre-left Labour Party. Hipkins, who is 48, is seeking to return Labour to the prime minister's job three years after the party lost the 2023 election. Both leaders are named Chris, a point the Associated Press noted in its coverage.

Luxon boarded National's big blue bus for his final campaign push. The bus made a three-day journey from the Hutt Valley to Auckland. At stops along the way, Luxon promoted the phrase "finish the job", according to RNZ. He also campaigned in Hawke's Bay in the final days before the vote, and said the election would likely go down to the wire, Reuters reported.

Hipkins raced a go-kart during his campaign in Maidstone on 6 November, Reuters said. Both leaders have appeared at the Stuff Leaders' Debate, RNZ's Nine To Noon programme listed.

A pre-election poll put Labour on 30.7 percent and National on 26.4 percent. Nearly 1.67 million people had voted through Thursday, Reuters reported.

In the 2023 election, the Greens won 11.6 percent of the party vote, ACT won 8.6 percent and NZ First won 6.1 percent, according to RNZ. The Greens made a fresh pitch to Pacific voters in the final days of the campaign, Pacific Media Network reported.