Winston Peters: 'All roads lead to Russell'

With a cheeky grin and a twinkle in his eye, the man dubbed the king-maker in this election had a simple message.

"We always knew that tonight, despite all the predictions, all roads would lead to Russell."

NZ First Party leader Winston Peters thanked supporters at his election party in Northland tonight.

They would not be rushing to make any statements or decisions tonight or even tomorrow, he said.

"I will not be giving any answers tonight or tomorrow until I've had a full chance to talk to the full board of NZ First, our supporters and organisations around the country and MPs."

"This party is a realistic commonsense party. We don't like extremism.

"We have been strong enough and honest enough with our supporters. We don't have all the cards, but we do have the main cards.''

They would be making decisions based on the national interest. Peters called on the public to be patient and asked that he not be asked who they would go with.

Peters said they would probably be advocating for a new political voting system - although he said it with a laugh.

Despite the stigmatisation of his party in the lead-up to the election, he said with a cheeky smile: "All roads lead to Russell."