Opportunity won 6.0 percent of the party vote on the preliminary count, enough for seven seats, according to RNZ's results page. It is the party's first time in Parliament since it was founded by economist Gareth Morgan in 2016, when it was called The Opportunities Party, or TOP.
RNZ says it is also the first time under MMP that a party has come in from outside Parliament with no former MPs as candidates and without winning an electorate. Its leader, Qiulae Wong, is the first Asian leader of a parliamentary party.
The figures are preliminary. Special votes are still to be counted, and the Electoral Commission expects official results on 27 November.
Who is Qiulae Wong?
Wong was born in Fiji to a Chinese father and Pākehā mother and moved to New Zealand at six months old, RNZ reported in a profile last month. She grew up in Auckland's One Tree Hill, studied law and politics here, and spent almost ten years in London before coming home in 2022. She worked mostly with sustainable businesses before applying for the Opportunity leadership when the job was advertised.
She told RNZ Asian communities had been especially pleased to see her in the role. "I do feel a sense of responsibility because people obviously have expectations and hope," she said.
Wong contested Mt Albert but entered Parliament as the party's top list candidate.
Its five bottom lines
Opportunity's website lists five "non-negotiable" policies it says any governing partner must agree to:
- Bring prices down: power for the Commerce Commission to investigate and force structural separation of anti-competitive businesses, such as the supermarket duopoly.
- Clean up politics: a mandatory lobbyist register and code of conduct, and a cap on donations per donor, from registered voters only.
- Fix the health system: a 10-year cross-party health plan.
- Revive ocean health: an immediate end to bottom trawling in the most damaged inshore areas, such as the Hauraki Gulf, then a staged phase-out.
- Restore climate credibility: recommitting to the Paris Agreement and protecting the Climate Change Commission.
Tax and housing
The party's biggest idea is its Tax Reset. RNZ's explainer describes a Citizen's Income of up to $370 a week ($19,400 a year) for every citizen and resident aged over 18, replacing many main benefits. It would be paid for by a land value tax of 1.75 percent a year on urban land and 0.5 percent on rural land, alongside a compulsory "KiwiSaver 2.0".
On housing, the party's policy page proposes replacing more than 1000 planning zones with 10 national ones, a national pre-approval system for prefabricated and modular homes, and cheaper government finance for councils, iwi and community housing providers building affordable homes. Our earlier piece on first-home election pledges covers what the other parties promised.
What it says about immigration
Opportunity's policy page does not list a standalone immigration policy. Wong has spoken about it in general terms. "I don't think we should rely on immigration to grow our economy and productivity," she told RNZ. "We need to take a more long-term view on immigration, a more proactive stance where we know what our population make-up is going to be by 2040, 2050."
The party's economy policy includes a cross-party population strategy and forgiving student loan interest for New Zealanders who come home. RNZ's explainer noted the party rejects relying on low-wage migration to boost growth.
Wong has also said migrants bring "a lot of benefits". She called Winston Peters telling Green MP Lawrence Xu-Nan to "go back to your own country" "clearly racist". For how the other parties' immigration promises compare, see our round-up of immigration pledges.
Who will it talk to?
Wong said before the election that Opportunity would talk first to the largest party. On election night she told reporters that meant the party with the most seats, which on preliminary numbers is National, RNZ reported. Labour is narrowly ahead on party votes.
"Just because we speak to the largest party first doesn't guarantee anything," she said. "We need to see an alignment of values... and obviously meeting our bottom lines as well."
She said a coalition, a confidence and supply agreement or the cross benches were all options. Before the election she ruled out joining any government in which Peters stayed on as foreign minister. Christopher Luxon has repeatedly ruled out working with Opportunity, though he congratulated the party in his election-night speech.
On preliminary numbers National, ACT and New Zealand First can govern without Opportunity, RNZ noted. That could change once specials are counted. In the meantime, Wong's new MPs start Parliament's induction programme for new members on Tuesday.
Sources
- www.rnz.co.nz: election 2026 results
- www.rnz.co.nz: opportunity s success and what could come next
- www.rnz.co.nz: 2026 an election night of broken records where special votes are key
- www.rnz.co.nz: too close to call wait begins for special votes after cliffhanger election night
- www.rnz.co.nz: sense of responsibility qiulae wong on quest to become the first asian leader of a political party in parliament
- www.rnz.co.nz: explainer who are the opportunity party and what are their policies
- www.opportunity.org.nz: bottom_lines
- www.opportunity.org.nz: affordable_housing
- www.opportunity.org.nz: breakthrough_economy
- www.opportunity.org.nz: tax_reset
- www.opportunity.org.nz: policy
