Voting underway in New Zealand's general elections

By Anadolu staff

Thousands of New Zealanders are headed to the polls on Saturday to elect representatives to parliament from 19 political parties, with the main contest expected to be between Prime Minister Chris Hipkins' Labour Party and the National Party.

The voting opened at 9 a.m. local time (Friday at 20:00GMT) and will close at 7 p.m. (6:00GMT).

Some 3.8 million registered voters will elect lawmakers for the 120-seat New Zealand Parliament, 72 of whom will be elected directly by voters and 48 of whom will be allocated based on political party vote proportions.

According to election officials, over 2,300 polling stations are working across the country.

The main election contest is expected to be between Hipkins' Labour Party and the center-right National Party, with a total of 19 political parties fielding candidates.

In opinion polls before the vote, Labour has been lagging behind the National Party, which is favored to capture enough seats to form the country’s next government.

*Writing by Islamuddin Sajid