Jacinda Ardern feels the heat as frustrated voters punish her party at the ballot box

New Zealand voters have aired their frustration with Jacinda Ardern’s government at the ballot box, as Right-wing parties surged ahead in local elections.

Conservative candidates in Auckland, Christchurch, Invercargill and Rotorua all elected conservative mayors.

Only Wellington voted otherwise, electing the Greens’ candidate - but Labour’s candidate in the election came in fourth place. Dunedin opted for an independent.

The council elections, which are held during September and October, confirmed the results of a recent opinion poll, which found the Right-wing National-ACT NZ coalition had increased its lead over the Labour-Greens coalition by the largest margin since May.

The Roy Morgan survey put the two conservative parties 6.5 per cent ahead of the coalition government.

However, the turnout in the recent vote was just 36 per cent, four points lower than in 2019.

Jacinda Ardern tries to play down results

Even so, it is a wake-up call for the prime minister - whose government has presided over a period of growing social inequality, record levels of homelessness and draconian restrictions imposed during the early days of the pandemic, which isolated the country from the rest of the world.

The prime minister has moved to play down the council elections, insisting they were not a “simple straight reflection” of opposition towards her government.

She told TVNZ that it may have more to do with low voter turnout, driven by a reluctance to use postal votes.

Curiously, Ms Ardern’s poor performance has not created a gulf with the biggest winner in the local elections - Wayne Brown, a property developer who was elected mayor of Auckland, New Zealand’s biggest city.

The two were pictured shaking hands in newspapers, after agreeing to work together in the interests of the country.

Mr Brown’s demeanour was in sharp contrast to his earlier insistence that the role of Wellington was to listen to the priorities of Aucklanders and fund them.

If the prime minister is feeling the political heat at the moment, she will welcome a visit to Antarctica planned for next week.

Ms Ardern is due to fly there on Tuesday for two days on the ice to mark 65 years of Scott Base.

“Antarctica is part of New Zealand’s heritage and future and we’re committed to its protection as a natural reserve for peace, science and cooperation,” she said.