New Zealand Prime Minister and National Party leader, Christopher Luxon addresses party faithful in Auckland, New Zealand, Saturday, Nov.7, 2026. Alex Robertson/AP hide caption

Alex Robertson/AP

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — New Zealanders will wait for weeks to discover who will lead the country after Saturday's election failed to deliver a decisive win for the right or the left, leaving fraught negotiations for a wafer-thin governing majority the only apparent path to victory for either side.

The tightest vote in years delivered a stinging rebuke to the major parties which have long dominated New Zealand politics, Christopher Luxon's center-right National party and center-left Labour led by Chris Hipkins, as voters threw more support behind minor parties on the ideological flanks than before.…