New Zealand\'s Prime Minister has won a majority in the New Zealand General Election 2020. She will now be able to enter government without the need for other political parties as Labour gained 18 seats giving them a majority of 4 seats in the Parliament. The Greens, who formed part of the out going coalition government, had a 2 seat gain. However, Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters and his party NZ First lost all of their seats. The main outgoing opposition party, National, lost 21 seats, with ACT gaining 9 seats. The Maori Party will return to the parliament with one MP. Jacinda Ardern will now form a one party government the first since 1993.
The Prime Minister of New Zealand, Jacinda Ardern, has postponed the countries general election until the 17th of October due to public health concerns and the COVID-19 pandemic. The election was due to be held on the 19th of September. She spoke with all of New Zealand\'s party leaders and she has said that she will not be changing the date again. This will mean that the New Zealand Parliament will dissolve on the 6th of September and the close of nominations will be on the 18th of September.
The Womens World Cup starts today. Unlike 2015 RTÉ and TG4 have been able to agree a deal with the EBU (European Broadcasting Union) to air all the games. The Girls in Green will not be taking part, but the tournament is sure to get a boost with the full coverage provided by both public service broadcasters. France is the host country for the tournament taking over from Canada in 2015. Games and Highlights will also be available from both broadcasters players.
An Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has given a speech to outline the solution found to retain a soft boarder on the island of Ireland. This was one of three major issues preventing the UK and the EU continuing to phase 2 of the negotiations on the exit of the UK from the EU, AKA Brexit. Citizen Rights and a financial settlement are the 2 other issues. The negotiators can now move on to work out the detail of what has been agreed and to talk about transition phase, free trade and the new relationship between the EU and the UK.
Democrat Phil Murphy has taken the Governorship of New Jersey. The outgoing Republican Governor and Former Republican Presidential nominee Chris Christy supported Republican candidate Kim Guadagno. 2% of the vote went to other parties including The Green Party's Seth Kaper. Paul Murphy took 56% of the vote, with Guadagno taking 42%. Guadagno served as Lieutenant Governor under Chris Christy.
The Germany Chancellor Angela Merkel has held on to power in Germany, it is likely she will continue with her Grand coalition as leader of the CDU in partnership with rival party the CSU. The group lost 65 seats, but it is likely that they will enter agreements with The Green Party (67) and the FDP (70). The SDP have stated they will step away from their support of the government as it lost 40 seats. The Far right national party won 94 seats up from 0 seats.
