New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has won a landslide victory in the country's general election.

With most ballots tallied, Ms Ardern's centre-left Labour Party has won 49% of the vote and she is projected to win a rare outright parliamentary majority.

The opposition centre-right National Party, currently on 27%, has admitted defeat in Saturday's poll.

The vote was originally due to be in September, but was postponed by a month after a renewed Covid-19 outbreak.

The polls opened at 09:00 local time (20:00 GMT Friday) and closed at 19:00.

More than a million people had already voted in early polling which opened up on 3 October.

New Zealanders were also asked to vote in two referendums alongside the general election.

Source: BBC

BDST: 1830 HRS, OCT 17, 2020
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