SINGAPORE -- Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern has delayed New Zealand's general election for a month in the face of a new wave of coronavirus infections, but she could be forgiven for wishing the vote had already taken place.
Ardern's Labour Party has been riding high in the polls in recent months. A "rally around the flag" effect and 102 days of no COVID-19 community transmission propelled Labour's support numbers to between 50% and 60%. If reflected at the ballot box, this would mean the first single-party majority government in modern Kiwi politics.