So who do you vote for to stop abortions?

 

New Zealand's current law is the Abortion Legislation Act 2020. It decriminalised abortion and allows abortion on request up to 20 weeks, and after 20 weeks if a health practitioner reasonably believes it is clinically appropriate and consults another practitioner.

No major party in Parliament is campaigning to criminalise all abortion, but several smaller parties and some individual candidates are:

**1. Parties with an explicit anti-abortion platform:**

* **New Conservative Party** - Endorsed by Right to Life NZ as the only party contesting the 2026 election committed to "protecting all human life from conception to natural death." Right to Life issued a media release on 6 October 2026 encouraging supporters to vote New Conservative for that reason.

* **NZ Loyal** - Policy states "The current abortion law will be repealed at the first opportunity" and that they do not support late-term abortion. Their position is founded on the principle that "human life has inherent value and should not be deliberately extinguished except in the most extreme circumstances".

**2. NZ First - comments but no ban policy:**

NZ First leader Winston Peters said in interviews this month with Family First that life begins at conception and that some abortions could shade into "murder or assassination", and that "the facts" on timing of abortions were worth revisiting.

Right to Life noted in April 2026 that NZ First's published policies for 2026 showed "a complete absence of any policy to protect the lives of unborn children", and reporting notes Peters stopped short of making repeal an election policy.

All nine NZ First MPs voted against the 2020 Abortion Legislation Act.

**3. Individuals in major parties with personal pro-life views:**

* National leader Christopher Luxon has said in the past his own pro-life position meant he likened abortion to murder, but subsequently assured voters he would not touch abortion laws. He has reiterated that position in this campaign.

Monday morning on the waterfront

 The author of the famous glowing string display originally commissioned for the opening of Te Papa in 1998 is Maureen Lander. [1, 2]

Her landmark installation, titled String Games, features giant, ultra-violet (UV) light illuminated replicas of customary Māori string games (whai) made from fluorescent rope. [1, 2]

Evidently the Lion was in the zoo early 20 th century.

The New Zealand General Election Saturday 7 November 2026: why it is a close call.

To be honest I haven't been following the political progress as much as my esteemed co-blogger Peter. So I asked Meta AI for an update. Nothing wrong with that!

New Zealand goes to the polls on 7 November in what is shaping up as one of the most unpredictable MMP elections in years. The 54th Parliament was elected on 14 October 2023, and this vote will determine the 55th Parliament. 

If you are expecting a simple two-horse race, the polls are not giving you one.

Recent polling averages have National leading Labour by just over one point, while other recent snapshots have had both major parties tied at 28% each. In short, the two majors are both sitting on historically low shares, and neither bloc has a built-in majority.

Reuters noted this week that overseas voting opens from 21 October and that "no party, or likely coalition grouping, with a clear majority" is showing in recent opinion polls.

Under MMP a party needs 5% of the party vote or one electorate to get its proportional share of seats. As one analysis put it, "National may win the most votes – but that does not guarantee Christopher Luxon will remain prime minister".

That is because of what happens below the top two:

3. The four parties who will decide it

Greens: polling at a record high 16% in one October poll, down slightly to 15% in another. Their highest ever recorded level.

ACT:  steady around 10-11%.

New Zealand First: 9-10% and rising to 12% in some fieldwork, which in one projection handed the incumbent National-NZ First-ACT grouping 65 seats in a 122-seat Parliament.

The Opportunity Party (TOP): The wildcard. Polling at 6% to 8%, above the threshold. One Verian poll labelled it directly: "Hung parliament (Opportunity holds the balance of power)".

That is why headlines right now are using the same word: kingmaker. Two polls released on the same days in October gave opposite winners, entirely depending on where NZ First and Opportunity landed.

Scenario A - Continuity:National + ACT + NZ First get back over 61. This needs NZ First to hold around 10-12% and TOP to fall just under. The pathway exists - BusinessDesk's PollTracker simulations put this bloc in majority in 57.6% of 10,000 simulations at one point.

Scenario B - Centre-left switch: Labour + Greens + Opportunity + Te Pāti Māori. This becomes viable if Greens stay at 15-16% and Opportunity stays above 5%. A Post/Freshwater poll in late October described it as "neck-and-neck" with the two majors just over a percentage point apart.

Scenario C - Negotiation marathon: Neither bloc gets 61, and TOP or NZ First negotiates with both sides. That is what recent 1News-Verian and RNZ-Reid Research polls point to, with Labour at 30.8%, National 25.9%, Greens 14.8%, NZ First 10.6%, ACT 9%, Opportunity 5.5% in one RNZ-Reid snapshot.

On 7 November, voting places open from 9am to 7pm and preliminary results roll in from 7pm. We will know who won the most votes that night. We may not know who will govern for a few weeks after.

At the end of the day, no matter who writes the Bills, we are lucky to live in such a wonderful country.