Southland's two re-elected National MPs face more than two weeks of waiting on special votes after Opportunity leader Qiulae Wong held first meetings with Christopher Luxon and Chris Hipkins this week.
Ms Wong spent an hour with National leader and caretaker Prime Minister Christopher Luxon in his office on Monday evening, and about an hour with Labour leader Chris Hipkins on Tuesday, RNZ and 1News reported.
On provisional figures, National, ACT and New Zealand First hold 67 of 131 seats, a single seat above the 66 required to govern. Opportunity, which passed the 5 per cent threshold for the first time, has seven MPs.
Mr Luxon ruled out working with Opportunity repeatedly during the campaign.
"We had a very positive, very constructive conversation," he told reporters before National's caucus meeting on Tuesday, RNZ reported.
Mr Luxon said he had spoken briefly with New Zealand First leader Winston Peters and ACT leader David Seymour, and formal negotiations would start once special votes were counted. Asked about Mr Seymour's suggestion that the finance portfolio was negotiable, he said: "That'll be a National Party MP".
Ms Wong told 1News Opportunity would keep its promise to speak first to the party with the most seats.
"If they are willing to talk and want to talk, then we will have those discussions with them, but if it feels like we're not reaching any agreement or can't move that forward, we will certainly speak to Labour," she said.
She told RNZ the party's five bottom lines were reasonable, and staying out of government remained possible. "Being on the crossbenches is entirely an option for us if that is not a possibility to meet the bottom lines," she said.
An Opportunity spokesperson told RNZ the party had not heard from Mr Peters or Mr Seymour.
Mr Hipkins said National's lead depended on the electorate seats it won beyond its party vote share.
"They're only holding on to the prospect of power because they've manipulated the electoral system," he told RNZ.
National won 42 electorates, including Invercargill and Southland, but its party vote of about 29 per cent entitles it to 35 MPs. The difference created seven overhang seats, RNZ reported.
That result cost National its list MPs, among them Finance Minister Nicola Willis, along with Gerry Brownlee, Paul Goldsmith and Chris Bishop, 1News reported.
Invercargill MP Penny Simmonds, who was promoted to Cabinet in April as Minister of Tertiary Education and of Science, Innovation and Technology, remains a minister for now. Under the caretaker convention, the prime minister and ministers stay in office until a new government is formed.
The Southland Tribune said Ms Simmonds could take a bigger role in any National-led Cabinet, given the senior ministers the party has lost.
On election night Ms Simmonds told the Otago Daily Times her third term depended on which way the party vote went. "Really excited to run for Invercargill again, but sort of on edge still," she said.
Southland MP Joseph Mooney, re-elected for a third term, faces the same wait.
National turnout was 74.6 per cent, the second lowest on record, RNZ reported.
In Invercargill this week, the words 'The Government Is The Virus' were seen painted on the back of a vehicle on Dee Street.
What happens next
Official results are due on Friday, 27 November, when an estimated 399,365 special votes will be added and seats allocated again. Specials have historically favoured the left, RNZ reported.
Candidates and parties then have until Wednesday, 2 December, to apply for a judicial recount, and the writ must be returned by Thursday, 3 December.
There is no deadline for coalition talks. The new Parliament must meet by 14 January 2027.
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