They managed to be half-competent at maintaining their not-quite-left-wing-but-it'll-do promises in the otherwise neoliberal hellworld that is western capitalist government, and their opposition party imploded on themselves multiple times after numerous scandals and changing out party leadership several times. That allowed them to secure some serious gains, plus the handling of the Christchurch massacre and COVID earned them international sympathy plus pseudosexual pathological girlboss vibes also helped. They're still about as "left" as their British and Australian counterparts, which is to say, not really.
Could sadly be said for nearly all left-wing parties in any parliament on earth. That being said, i'd rather have them than the current gov we have here in the Netherlands.
They managed to be half-competent at maintaining their not-quite-left-wing-but-it'll-do promises in the otherwise neoliberal hellworld that is western capitalist government, and their opposition party imploded on themselves multiple times after numerous scandals and changing out party leadership several times. That allowed them to secure some serious gains, plus the handling of the Christchurch massacre and COVID earned them international sympathy plus pseudosexual pathological girlboss vibes also helped. They're still about as "left" as their British and Australian counterparts, which is to say, not really.
Very technocratic and competent
But wish they were further left
Could sadly be said for nearly all left-wing parties in any parliament on earth. That being said, i'd rather have them than the current gov we have here in the Netherlands.
Seeing COVID responses in the Anglo world compared to NZ, I completely get why they are popular.