A billionaire business leader thinks National and Labour should "combine forces" and work together.
Guy Haddleton told RNZ he was not suggesting a "grand coalition" but thought a two-party system managing the country was better than four parties "trying to knock it out together" in such a challenging time.
"I think if the two parties could agree a supply and confidence, one to the other, and agree strategic initiatives, one of which, clearly a review of MMP would be significant, but then other investment opportunities that the country needs to undertake that have a five, 10-year lifespan might be better for us at this moment in time."
This election saw voters shift support to smaller parties, with the Greens and ACT enjoying record support, and Opportunity entering Parliament for the first time.
On provisional results, there’ll be 131 seats due to overhangs from both sides of the political spectrum. (Source: 1News)
National and Labour's combined vote on the preliminary count was just under 60%, but Haddleton said 60% was a mandate to govern.
"I think we are a centralist country. We might have 20% on the extreme left and 20% on the extreme right. Those are just hypothetical numbers, obviously. And we've got 60% on the central. I suspect the central should win and govern."
Germany, Ireland, and Denmark had all tried similar sorts of arrangements, with Haddleton saying some had been more successful than others.
Haddleton said the key to a successful arrangement would be having a defined timescale, rather than something in perpetuity.
"I'm not suggesting that this should be the end of either of the two grand parties. Not at all. What I'm suggesting is we are in a difficult, challenging time globally. No party has a mandate as such. Why not have the two major parties, who are actually quite centrist?"
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