With New Zealand heading to the polls on 7 November 2026, Andy Loader examines the leaders of the country's political parties, assessing their political judgement, leadership styles, electoral success, policies and personal character.
Political leadership is the process of guiding and influencing people, groups, or whole countries to make and carry out public decisions.
Good leadership requires a balance between ethical character and practical wisdom.
Key Dimensions of Leadership
-
Political Cunning: The skill of winning elections, keeping power, and managing a political party.
-
Political Conscience: The moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
-
Transactional vs. Transformational: Transactional leadership focuses on rules and trading rewards for compliance, while transformational leadership inspires major, positive change.
How We Judge Leaders
-
Electoral Success: Can the leader win votes and keep their party united?
-
Policy Impact: Do their choices improve areas like the economy, housing, and the environment?
-
Character and Ethics: Do they show humility, honesty, and accountability under pressure instead of arrogance or narcissism?
To evaluate a leader properly before voting, I suggest watching how they act under pressure and checking their facts rather than relying on charm or the influence of media reporting.
After reading the above description of Political Leadership I decided to set out my opinions on the leaders of the main political parties which are likely to have an effect on the eventual make-up of the next government after the election on the 7th November.
Christopher Luxon; National Party Leader.
Political Cunning: The skill of winning elections, keeping power, and managing a political party.
Has been leader of the National Party since November 2021. Served as Leader of the Opposition till election in November 2023 when his party won a majority in that election. Has survived two recent challenges to his leadership and although he is relatively inexperienced has managed to keep the National party united under his leadership.
Political Conscience: The moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
I believe that he does understand that as the leader of his party and as the current sitting Prime Minister, that he has a moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society generally.
At the same time I believe that his political conscience is leavened by the need to follow the party policies and this sometimes may influence his decision making.
Transactional vs. Transformational: Transactional leadership focuses on rules and trading rewards for compliance, while transformational leadership inspires major, positive change.
In my opinion I believe that he fits the description of a transactional leader more so than a transformational leader.
Electoral Success: Can the leader win votes and keep their party united?
He managed to lead the National party to a majority win in the national election in 2023 and form a coalition government with Act & NZ First.
He has managed to keep the coalition government united under his leadership for the term of parliament and he has managed to survive two recent leadership challenges from within his own party whilst still keeping his party united.
In spite of him being able to win those challenges to his leadership and keep the coalition government united his polling numbers leading up to the election next month have been steadily declining and have reached a record low of 27.6%. In the last week they have received a boost climbing to 32% in the latest One news Verian poll results.
Policy Impact: Do their choices improve areas like the economy, housing, and the environment?
In my opinion his focus has been almost entirely on getting the economy onto an improving footing and as part of this process we have seen inflation reducing and the future outlook for our economy to be improving.
While there is an improvement forecast for the economy over the next couple of years there is no magic bullet from his policies which is delivering a reduction in the cost of living for the average taxpayers of NZ.
Overall in my opinion he gets a pass mark for his management of the economy to date, but I believe there will be many in the population who will be disappointed that they are not receiving any benefits from his policies in the immediate term and some of this is reflected in the low level of approval shown in the latest leadership poll results.
Character and Ethics: Do they show humility, honesty, and accountability under pressure instead of arrogance or narcissism?
Whilst I believe that he shows a reasonable level of humility, accountability under pressure and honesty, I also believe there is a level of arrogance/narcissism in some of his decision making.
The level of arrogance/narcissism in some of his decision making could just as easily be seen as the decisiveness of a leader, by other persons.
Winston Peters; New Zealand First Party Leader.
Political Cunning: The skill of winning elections, keeping power, and managing a political party.
Has been leader of the New Zealand First Party since he founded it in 1993. Winston Peters marked 50 years in politics and turned 80 in 2025.
Served in several major political offices throughout his career in New Zealand.
Deputy Prime Minister
Terms: 1996–1998, 2017–2020, and 2023–2025
Details: Served under Prime Ministers Jim Bolger (coalition with National), Jacinda Ardern (coalition with Labour), and Christopher Luxon (coalition with National and ACT).
Minister of Foreign Affairs
Terms: 2005–2008, 2017–2020, and 2023–2025 (as well as continuing into 2026)
Details: Led New Zealand's foreign policy and international relations across multiple different governments.
Treasurer
Term: 1996–1998
Details: Held concurrently with his first term as Deputy Prime Minister during the National–New Zealand First coalition.
Minister of Māori Affairs
Term: 1990–1991
Details: Served in the Cabinet under Prime Minister Jim Bolger's National government.
Minister for Racing
Terms: 2005–2008, 2017–2020, and 2023–2025
Details: Managed portfolios related to the New Zealand racing industry during various coalition arrangements.
Minister for State-Owned Enterprises
Term: 2017–2020
Details: Oversaw state-owned enterprises during the Labour-led coalition government.
Minister for Rail
Term: 2024–2025
Details: Held the rail portfolio during the National-led coalition government.
Winston Peters is the longest serving MP in the current parliament and the longest serving Party Leader of all political parties in the current parliament and given his 50 year term as an MP and the positions he has held in various governments over that term, he has demonstrated the ability to win elections, keep power and manage a political party.
Political Conscience: The moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
I believe that he does understand that as the leader of his party and as a member of the current coalition government (including a period as deputy Prime Minister), that he has a moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society generally.
Transactional vs. Transformational: Transactional leadership focuses on rules and trading rewards for compliance, while transformational leadership inspires major, positive change.
In my opinion I believe that at different times according to the circumstances he has shown traits of both a transactional leader and a transformational leader. In my opinion he has always had a good understanding of and focuses on compliance with the rules but he has also been able to demonstrate the ability to inspire change.
Electoral Success: Can the leader win votes and keep their party united?
Given his long career in parliament and his success in many elections he has demonstrated an ability to win elections and he has also managed to keep his party united over the term of its existence since 1993.
In the latest polling results his party has surged to 12% support up 3.6% from the last poll and in the preferred Prime Minister results he has seen a significant increase in his share of the vote, up 3.2%.
Policy Impact: Do their choices improve areas like the economy, housing, and the environment?
Policies promoted by his party have over the many years of his leadership, shown improvements in various functions of government and opposition.
Character and Ethics: Do they show humility, honesty, and accountability under pressure instead of arrogance or narcissism?
In my opinion he shows honesty and accountability under pressure in his position as Leader of New Zealand First and as an MP.
David Seymour; Act New Zealand Party Leader.
Political Cunning: The skill of winning elections, keeping power, and managing a political party.
David Seymour is the Minister for Regulation and the Associate Minister of Health, Finance, Education, and Justice. He was first elected to Parliament as MP for Epsom in 2014, at which point he became Leader of the ACT Party.
He has won the seat as MP for Epsom in all four elections since then, and has also managed to keep his party united and increase their number of seats in the house of parliament.
Political Conscience: The moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
I believe that he does understand that as the leader of the Act Party and as a member of the current coalition government (including a period as deputy Prime Minister), that he has a moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society generally.
Transactional vs. Transformational: Transactional leadership focuses on rules and trading rewards for compliance, while transformational leadership inspires major, positive change.
In my opinion he demonstrates the traits of a transformational leader with his ability to inspire positive change.
Electoral Success: Can the leader win votes and keep their party united?
He has won his Epsom seat in every election since 2014 and he has kept his party united behind his leadership and also manged to increase their share of seats in the house of parliament.
Policy Impact: Do their choices improve areas like the economy, housing, and the environment?
Policies promoted by the Act party have over the years of his leadership; have shown improvements in various functions of government and opposition.
Character and Ethics: Do they show humility, honesty, and accountability under pressure instead of arrogance or narcissism?
In my opinion he shows humility, honesty, and accountability under pressure without any sign of arrogance or narcissism.
Chris Hipkins; Labour Party Leader of Opposition.
Political Cunning: The skill of winning elections, keeping power, and managing a political party.
Hipkins failed at the last election losing to the current coalition government but he has managed to hold on to the reigns of the Party Leadership.
In my opinion I feel that he lacks some of the natural political cunning that is demonstrated by other party leaders and this has been shown in the examples of him being seen to have misled the voters with some of his campaign speeches.
Political Conscience: The moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
In my opinion I believe that he cannot be trusted to do what is right and helpful for society when this may conflict with his party’s interests and as such I have some reservations in respect of his political conscience. Particularly in the light of some of his recent examples of rewriting recent history related to some of his party’s decisions and in light of his refusal to front up to the Covid enquiry and publically explain his roles under the Covid pandemic response by his government.
Transactional vs. Transformational: Transactional leadership focuses on rules and trading rewards for compliance, while transformational leadership inspires major, positive change.
I firmly believe that he falls into the transactional category when it comes to his leadership style. I don’t personally believe that he has the abilities to inspire major positive change.
Electoral Success: Can the leader win votes and keep their party united?
He led the party to defeat at the last election in 2023 and although I must say that he has managed to keep his party united through this term in opposition, I don’t believe that he has shown any type of uncanny ability to win votes and in fact if we take the current polling leading up to this election the example is that he has led the Labour party to its lowest pre-election polling results ever.
The Labour Party seems to be constantly stuck at around 27% in the current polling results.
In my opinion it would not be any surprise to see his party fail to win at the up-coming election on 7th November
Policy Impact: Do their choices improve areas like the economy, housing, and the environment?
Given his party’s recent record in power from 2017 to 2023 and the results shown by them, you have to say that there is no way that his choices have improved any areas of government.
Character and Ethics: Do they show humility, honesty, and accountability under pressure instead of arrogance or narcissism?
Given the recent history of his government and of his leadership I believe that he has failed to demonstrate any real signs of humility, honesty and accountability under pressure and in fact i feel that he shows definite signs of arrogance and a degree of narcissism.
Chloe Swarbrick; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, Joint Leader.
Political Cunning: The skill of winning elections, keeping power, and managing a political party.
On recent history you have to agree that Chloe Swarbrick has demonstrated the ability to win elections, keep power, and manage a political party.
But even with this history of success I don’t believe that she has the political cunning required to succeed in either leading or managing a government even with the benefit of a joint leadership of her party.
Political Conscience: The moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
Whilst I believe that she thinks she is doing what is right and helpful for society, her political conscience is directly influenced by her political choices and driven by her socialist agenda.
In my opinion she will always believe that what she is proposing is for the benefit of society even though history has many examples that show a socialist agenda will not, and has not, worked anywhere in the world.
Transactional vs. Transformational: Transactional leadership focuses on rules and trading rewards for compliance, while transformational leadership inspires major, positive change.
In my opinion I believe that her leadership style leans more towards the transactional rather than the transformational.
Electoral Success: Can the leader win votes and keep their party united?
Given her history of success in recent elections and the rising levels of her party’s polling results you have to say that she is able to win votes and keep her party united.
Policy Impact: Do their choices improve areas like the economy, housing, and the environment?
She has made a declaration that she would want to be appointed as Minister of Finance should her party be included in a coalition government post-election but I do not believe that she has either the political knowledge/cunning or practical skills and experience to fulfill such a role. I believe that my opinion is also backed up by the statement from the leader of the Labour party, that she will not be appointed to that role in any coalition government lead by him.
On studying her party’s policies I am of the opinion that they will not do anything to improve crucial areas of government and in actual fact they are more likely to do harm than good.
Character and Ethics: Do they show humility, honesty, and accountability under pressure instead of arrogance or narcissism?
In my opinion I believe that she shows a level of arrogance rather than any signs of humility and her ethics are definitely influenced by her socialist leanings.
Marama Davidson; Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand, Joint Leader.
Political Cunning: The skill of winning elections, keeping power, and managing a political party.
On recent history you have to agree that Marama Davidson has demonstrated the ability to win elections, keep power, and manage a political party.
But even with this history of success I don’t believe that she has the political cunning required to succeed in either leading or managing a government even with the benefit of a joint leadership of her party.
Political Conscience: The moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
Whilst I believe that she thinks she is doing what is right and helpful for society, her political conscience is directly influenced by her political choices and driven by her ethnic identity.
In my opinion she will always believe that what she is proposing is for the benefit of society even though recent history has shown that an ethnic focused agenda is not supported by the majority of NZ taxpayers.
Transactional vs. Transformational: Transactional leadership focuses on rules and trading rewards for compliance, while transformational leadership inspires major, positive change.
In my opinion I believe that her leadership style leans more towards the transactional rather than the transformational.
Electoral Success: Can the leader win votes and keep their party united?
Given her party’s history of success in recent elections and the rising levels of their polling results you have to say that along with her joint leader she is able to win votes and keep her party united
Policy Impact: Do their choices improve areas like the economy, housing, and the environment?
On studying her party’s policies I am of the opinion that they will not do anything to improve crucial areas of government and in actual fact they are more likely to do harm than good.
Character and Ethics: Do they show humility, honesty, and accountability under pressure instead of arrogance or narcissism?
In my opinion I believe that she shows a level of arrogance rather than any signs of humility and her ethics are definitely influenced by her ethnic beliefs.
In recent times she has been shown to have misled the voters with some of her answers to media inquiries and this leads me to question her beliefs.
Rawiri Waititi; Te Pāti Māori, Joint Leader.
Political Cunning: The skill of winning elections, keeping power, and managing a political party.
I do not believe that he has any particular skills or level of political cunning, particularly in relation to winning elections and keeping power.
If it wasn’t for the mandated Maori electoral seats then his party would not have any place in government.
Given that his party only managed to gain approximately 1.8% of the votes from the Maori electoral roll he has not demonstrated any obvious skills at winning elections or managing a political party.
Political Conscience: The moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
In my opinion he has very little in the way of a political conscience other than what suits his ethnic beliefs and he shows no particular belief in a duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
Given his many racist diatribes both within and outside of parliament it is my opinion that he has no idea of what a moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society is.
Transactional vs. Transformational: Transactional leadership focuses on rules and trading rewards for compliance, while transformational leadership inspires major, positive change.
His leadership style is definitely transactional.
Electoral Success: Can the leader win votes and keep their party united?
He has been able to gain enough votes to succeed at the last election but in my opinion this was entirely due to the requirements for the legislated Maori Seats.
Given the issues surrounding one of his party MP’s leaving the party during the current term you would have to question whether he has the skills and abilities to keep his party united.
Policy Impact: Do their choices improve areas like the economy, housing, and the environment?
No!
Character and Ethics: Do they show humility, honesty, and accountability under pressure instead of arrogance or narcissism?
Definitely demonstrates a high level of arrogance towards the voters and very little in the way of what I would consider to be any sort of ethical behaviors.
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer; Te Pāti Māori, Joint Leader.
Political Cunning: The skill of winning elections, keeping power, and managing a political party.
I do not believe that she has any particular skills or level of political cunning, particularly in relation to winning elections and keeping power.
If it wasn’t for the mandated Maori electoral seats then her party would not have any place in government.
Given that her party only managed to gain approximately 1.8% of the votes from the Maori electoral roll she has not demonstrated any obvious skills at winning elections or managing a political party.
Political Conscience: The moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
In my opinion she has very little in the way of a political conscience other than what suits her ethnic beliefs and she shows no particular belief in a duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
Transactional vs. Transformational: Transactional leadership focuses on rules and trading rewards for compliance, while transformational leadership inspires major, positive change.
Her leadership style is definitely transactional.
Electoral Success: Can the leader win votes and keep their party united?
She has been able to gain enough votes to succeed at the last election but in my opinion this was entirely due to the requirements for the legislated Maori Seats.
Given the issues surrounding one of her party MP’s leaving the party during the current term you would have to question whether she has the skills and abilities to keep the party united.
Policy Impact: Do their choices improve areas like the economy, housing, and the environment?
No!
Character and Ethics: Do they show humility, honesty, and accountability under pressure instead of arrogance or narcissism?
Definitely demonstrates a high level of arrogance towards the voters and very little in the way of what I would consider to be any sort of ethical behaviors.
Quilae Wong; Opportunity Party, Leader.
Political Cunning: The skill of winning elections, keeping power, and managing a political party.
Complete novice with this being her first step on the political path. She was hired for the job of leading the party and by her own admission has voted for nearly every party that has stood for election over the preceding years.
Given the number of policy changes that she has made in the short time that she has been on the political scene I can only say that she has demonstrated a lack of any political cunning.
She has announced significant changes to some of her party’s major policies and has conflicting issues across other policies where they seem to have opposing values.
For example: One of her party’s major policies seemed to be that change to allow for criminal offenders to be dealt with under the youth justice courts due to the scientific evidence that young males brain development doesn’t stop till around age twenty five.
Yet her other policy is that youths should have the right to vote at age sixteen.
How can her party justify these two wildly varying policies simply on the basis of age.
Political Conscience: The moral duty to do what is right and helpful for society.
Given that she has been employed to lead this party and that she is a complete novice in relation to politics we will have to judge her political conscience solely on her party’s policies at present and this judgement may change with the passing of time and more exposure of her personal values in relation to what is right and helpful to society.
Transactional vs. Transformational: Transactional leadership focuses on rules and trading rewards for compliance, while transformational leadership inspires major, positive change.
Again with her being a complete novice it is too early to be able to judge her leadership style with any real chance of getting it right. This will become more obvious as time goes by.
Electoral Success: Can the leader win votes and keep their party united?
The election results will be the sole judge of fact in regard to this question.
Policy Impact: Do their choices improve areas like the economy, housing, and the environment?
In my opinion I doubt that the policies as set out in her party’s election manifesto will do much to improve any areas of government and in fact in some cases are likely to do more harm than good.
Character and Ethics: Do they show humility, honesty, and accountability under pressure instead of arrogance or narcissism?
Again as a novice this question will only really be answered in time.