Ardern called on Musk to “stick strongly to the principle of transparency”.
“Social media and platforms like Twitter have a huge responsibility. They can be a force for democracy, a force for connection and for good. But also, if misused, they can do a huge amount of harm,” she said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also extended his well-wishes to Luxon and condolences to former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins.
“Congratulations to @chrisluxonmp on your victory and the great honour of serving as Prime Minister of New Zealand. I look forward to building our transtasman partnership into the future.
“To my friend @chrishipkins, you have served your nation with distinction.”
Alastair Campbell, former strategist and spokesman for Tony Blair and New Labour, also commented on National’s win.
“The sixth PM in NZ to take office mid-term and lose an election afterwards,” he wrote on X.
On the other side of the spectrum, Lord of the Rings star Elijah Wood responded to a post by David Farrier, agreeing the election result was “deeply disappointing”.
World media have called the result a “political bloodbath” and commented that the “Ardern era” is over.
The Daily Telegraph in the UK wrote that New Zealand “resoundingly chose” a conservative government over Labour, and called the result “a dramatic contrast to Labour’s landslide victory under Jacinda Ardern in 2020″.
Like News.com.au, the Telegraph also mentions Jacinda Ardern in its analysis of what went wrong for Labour, writing that “many New Zealanders also had not forgiven Ms Ardern for how she handled the Covid-19 pandemic”.
“Policies like barring overseas New Zealanders from returning home, enforcing harsh lockdowns, mandating the vaccine and refusing to face up to mandate protesters camped outside Parliament all contributed to her declining popularity before her resignation,” the Daily Telegraph wrote.
