Politics / Election 2017

Election17: Leaders settle into nervous wait for results

18:30 pm on 22 September 2017

At the end of the election campaign, RNZ political reporters who have been shadowing Bill English and Jacinda Ardern explain how the leaders are faring.

National leader Bill English had seemed more confident in the past week, likely thanks to recent polls showing his party taking the lead in the election.

Meanwhile Labour leader Jacinda Ardern will finally get around to painting her fence tomorrow as she nervously awaits the outcome of the election.

The Labour leader began her day with a blitz of media interviews - where she cited meeting the families of the Pike River victims on the West Coast as one of her most memorable campaign moments.

Labour lost some ground in more recent polling, but considering the party's position before she took the reins, it was much closer than it had been.

A combination with the Greens would also be very similar to National's total, making the election still anyone's game with Winston Peters likely to be holding the balance.

However the results go tomorrow, leaders, candidates and supporters of all the parties will doubtless be feeling a mixture of relief, excitement, nervousness and stress.