ACT leader David Seymour says a coalition deal is getting closer every day, yesterday's negotiations bringing the country "closer than we have ever been" to a new government.
Today marks two weeks since the final election results were released, and eyes are firmly set on Prime Minister-elect Christopher Luxon, Winston Peters and Seymour, who are tasked with forming the next government.
National, ACT and New Zealand First leadership met yesterday at a central Auckland Hotel, all who spoke to media sharing the same sentiment of a deal being just around the corner.
Seymour joined Breakfast this morning, saying the three parties — who were competitive just over a month ago — are finding some common ground.
"We've had three parties who were... quite fierce competitors in the election now becoming cooperators," he said.
"We need to have a deal that three sign up to that's coherent because the government will have to act coherent to take on the considerable challenges we face as a country."
He said the parties have "compared notes" at the negotiating table and have "gotten closer and closer together".
"We've been making progress at all times. I think it's true to say... that we are very, very close to the end of that process."
Seymour said ACT has "partially" formed a deal with National, though insisted that a "deal with three" was a must.
"If we're going to carry out a series of steps to try and make things better where New Zealanders have asked us to change, then we actually need three [parties] to vote for those initiatives."
He said the now 14-day wait for a coalition agreement is at least somewhat attributable to the number of parties involved, though he refused to pin the blame on anyone at the table with him.
"We need to ratify it three ways, [so] I think that probably explains some of the reasons why this one's taking longer, because for the most part the deals being done have been primarily between two parties, here you need three.
"I think it would be unfair to start pointing the finger or blaming any particular person," he said when asked if the wait could be pinned on Peters, an unconfirmed partner until the final election results were released on November 3.
"This time has gone the way it has because it has its own unique circumstances, I'm not gonna start pointing the finger or blaming any one person, especially since we gotta work together for a thousand days."
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