New Zealand's Ardern wins 'historic' re-election

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivered the biggest election victory for her center-left Labour Party in half a century on Saturday as voters rewarded her for strong leadership, particularly throughout this year.

Edward Baran reports.

Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern delivered the biggest election victory for her center-left Labour Party in half a century on Saturday as voters rewarded her for decisive leadership in recent months.

The mandate means the 40-year-old could form the first single-party government in decades "We will govern as we campaigned.

Positively with optimism about our future with a relentless focus on recovery that brings New Zealanders with us to deliver long lasting change.

Now more than ever is the time to keep going, to keep working, to grab hold of the opportunities that lay in front of us so let's step forward together.

(Speaking Maori).

Let's keep moving." Ardern will face the challenge of delivering on the progressive transformation she promised but failed to deliver in her first term, where Labour shared power with a nationalist party.

Labour was on track to win 64 of the 120 seats in the country's unicameral parliament, the highest by any party since New Zealand adopted a proportional voting system in 1996.

Ardern promised supporters she would build an economy that works for everyone, create jobs, train people, protect the environment and address climate challenges and social inequalities.