ACT Party leader David Seymour has revealed he is still waiting on Winston Peters and New Zealand First to call him back.
Seymour made the comment following the release of the final election results this afternoon, which saw National lose two seats, meaning a three-party coalition is needed to form a government.
ACT’s 11 seats remained unchanged in the final count, but it now means they will have to work with Peters and his party.
Seymour and Peters had previously butted heads on the campaign trail, with the pair frequently trading jabs.
The ACT leader said he is still waiting for a reply from his potential coalition partner. (Source: 1News)
Speaking to media after the release of the results, Seymour said he’d reached out to NZ First after election night, but as of yet hasn't got a reply.
“We’ve worked very hard with the Nats, we’ve reached out to New Zealand First in the past three weeks, and we hope that we’re going to be able to have a rapid and productive discussion about how the three parties can work together to have better Government for New Zealand,” he said.
Seymour anticipated sitting down with the other parties “at some point this week”.
He hoped “that it'll be a matter of a few days or maybe less than a week” before a coalition is agreed on.
“I think what just happened is a change in expectation. To incorporate a third party is a necessary part of that government."
He said it was always a “likely outcome” based on the initial results from election night.
“Either way, what matters is that we actually deliver on that change people voted for. We are committed to doing that.”
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