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Chris Luxon before final election results announced: "This is taking too long, it's not fair. If I was in charge I would tell them to do it quicker. New Zealanders deserve to have a government."

Chris Luxon after final election results announced: "We're going to call for several recounts. Also I'll take as long as I feel like to form a government, and I won't tell New Zealanders about how it's going because that's none of their business."

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Nov 8, 2023
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According to this (https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/133214730/christopher-luxon-criticises-threeweek-wait-for-results-but-will-he-fix-it) Stuff article, quoting RNZ (most likely this article: https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/501588/making-it-count-anxiously-waiting-politicians-discuss-electoral-settings), his words were:

“We're beholden to a system that doesn't deliver, doesn't count a fifth of our votes until three weeks after an election,” he told RNZ.

"Three weeks is way too long to count special votes, I think that needs to be sped up."

RNZ also goes on to quote him:

"It's incredibly frustrating for everybody," he said. "It's sort of like, 'hurry up and wait'. That's why I would like the Electoral Commission to actually process special votes in a much quicker way going forward, if possible."

As far as recounts go, this (https://www.newshub.co.nz/home/politics/2023/11/election-2023-chris-hipkins-supports-recount-for-the-seat-with-only-four-votes-in-it.html) article quotes him as requesting two:

"Meanwhile, National leader Christopher Luxon said his party is looking at a recount in Mt Albert (20 vote difference) and Nelson (29 vote difference)."

This (https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/political/501639/act-s-david-seymour-reverses-rule-out-of-working-with-winston-peters-in-cabinet) RNZ article quotes him as saying he will take as long as it takes:

"We will now crack on with the clarity that we have ... as quickly as we possibly can," he said. "At the end of the day I will take as long as it takes to form a strong and stable government."

Numerous articles discuss his reluctance to say anything to the public about negotiations:

"We are not doing this by negotiation through the media."

Luxon said he had established a negotiation team but would not say who it included. The following quote comes from this (https://crux.org.nz/national-news/election-2023-christopher-luxon-ready-to-get-to-work-on-coalition-negotiations/) one:

"I have watched elections in New Zealand after results and I just think out of respect, I'm trying to build a really serious, constructive, positive government, and for that to happen, I need to be able to work with those individual parties and make sure that that is confidential and private and negotiated rather than trying to do it all through a blow-by-blow out in the public domain."

So ... yes, I have obviously paraphrased. If there is a specific bit you disagree with, let me know. :-)

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Nov 8, 2023
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Big "Hey Vasquez" energy here.

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"A couple of movie titles sprang to mind...." I love such creative bullshit inserted into a news item

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That's not the Jodie Foster movie *I* would have thought of when discussing the ACT party...

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