Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong says party's bottom lines are "very reasonable"
The Opportunity Party's leader, Qiulae Wong, says both National and Labour should be able to agree to her party's five bottom lines for a coalition deal.
The party won six percent of the vote and is provisionally set to win seven seats. That would make it the first party from outside Parliament to enter Parliament under New Zealand's mixed-member proportional (MMP) electoral system, in which parties win seats in line with their share of the party vote. RNZ Official results are expected on 27 November. Until then, the party could hold the balance of power in forming a government.
The party's list is titled "Our Bottom Lines for 2026". It says any governing partner must agree to them for the party's support. The list includes bringing prices down, cleaning up politics, fixing the health system and reviving ocean health. Opportunity Party The party says these must be written into a coalition agreement or a confidence and supply agreement, a looser arrangement in which a party backs a government on confidence votes and budget bills without joining Cabinet.
Wong described the bottom lines as "concrete" non-negotiables. NZ Herald She said they remain in place and are "very reasonable". She declined to name the ministerial portfolios her party would seek, but said climate change, environment, commerce and consumer affairs were areas of strong party policy.
Wong said she wanted to meet all party leaders over the next few weeks. She said she would leave formal negotiations until after the final vote count. If she had not heard from National leader Luxon about talks, she said, she would call him within days.
National had repeatedly ruled out working with the Opportunity Party before the election. Luxon told Morning Report that a major lesson of the campaign was the need for more cross-party collaboration. RNZ
Labour leader Chris Hipkins and Green co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick both phoned Wong to congratulate her. Wong said neither call covered governing arrangements.
