Luxon says wait for votes could have taken 5 weeks without enrolment changes

Detailed summary

Christopher Luxon is claiming it could take up to five weeks to count the vote if his Government had not changed enrolments.

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Christopher Luxon is claiming it could take up to five weeks to count the vote if his Government had not changed enrolments.

He says although he has spoken to the leaders of ACT, New Zealand First and the Opportunity Party he will not hold negotiations until after the final count - despite a constitutional law expert saying there's no need to wait.

The National leader also says suggestions the party is becoming more conservative are "rubbish", and New Zealanders should trust him after he ruled out Opportunity because they would not be happy to hold another election.

With less than two weeks before the final results, Luxon appeared on Morning Report with host Ingrid Hipkiss, who pressed him on whether he was still frustrated with the length of time taken.

Even after electoral changes removed the ability to enrol and vote on the same day, and pushed back enrolments to before the start of advance voting, the final result is still expected to take three weeks in total - the same as at the last election.

He said it was important for democracy that the Electoral Commission was independent, but "I do struggle to understand why it takes so long to count".

"I've watched US midterm elections with tens of millions of people voting in states across the US and even in close races like Mississippi, you get a result turned around much quicker, so I think that's a legitimate question that we need to ask," he said.

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