New Zealand’s PM Luxon faces deadline in finance minister search

WELLINGTON – New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon has until Dec 4 to decide who will be his next finance minister, assuming his National Party is in a position to form the next government.Nicola Willis, who has held the role since 2023, failed to win a seat in parliament after the weekend election.Under New Zealand’s Constitution she retains her role in a caretaker government – but it has a finite term.“Ministers, even the ministers who have lost, are entitled under our Constitution Act to remain in office until the official declaration of the election results,” said Andrew Geddis, a professor of public law at the University of Otago.“They’re allowed to stay on governing under the caretaker convention until the new Members of Parliament are declared.”The official declaration of MPs is on Dec 3.The Constitution allows one further day for a minister who is no longer an MP to step down, Geddis said. Luxon will also have to decide on replacements for Attorney-General Chris Bishop and Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith, who both lost their places in Parliament but continue in caretaker roles.Together with Willis, they held 19 portfolios that will need to be reallocated.To be sure, the election result was too close to call, and won’t be confirmed until Nov 27 when special votes cast by those overseas or travelling outside their home electorates are counted.There is a chance the centre-left bloc led by the Labour Party can still secure power, which would mean its finance spokeswoman Barbara Edmonds would become finance minister.Provisional election night results suggest National won sufficient electorate seats to give it an easier path to a second term, in collaboration with its existing coalition partners ACT and New Zealand First. But under the nation’s proportional voting system, National’s underlying party vote was weak, meaning those who didn’t contest or win an electorate missed out.Willis didn’t contest an electorate, while Bishop and Goldsmith lost their seats based on provisional results that are unlikely to be overturned.Luxon has indicated he will start formal coalition talks only when the official results are declared, which means very little time to progress any negotiations over ministerial positions and his deadline.That means he will have to appoint caretaker ministers in all 19 portfolios.“All of those warrants are going to have to be distributed to someone on December the fourth, but they’ll then have to go away and negotiate who exactly should hold them long term,” said Geddis.ACT leader David Seymour, for one, said ahead of the election it was “very possible” he would seek the finance role if it became vacant.However, Luxon told reporters on Nov 9 that role would go to a National MP, fanning speculation that one of his remaining senior ministers, Simeon Brown or Erica Stanford, would get the job. BLOOMBERG