By Lucy Craymer and Renju Jose
WELLINGTON, April 21 (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Christopher Luxon on Tuesday said he received the support of National Party lawmakers after calling a confidence vote on his leadership, following days of speculation that some within the party were seeking to replace him.
"I moved a formal motion of confidence in my leadership and that motion was passed," Luxon said in a prepared statement that he read after a party room meeting. "I have the support of my caucus as their leader. Caucus has answered clearly and decisively and has backed my leadership and that matter is now closed."
After reading the statement, Luxon left the room and refused to answer questions. No details were given on whether the vote in support was unanimous or the size of the majority.
Luxon leads the National Party, the biggest party in New Zealand's three-party ruling coalition, and serves as prime minister. If his party were to replace him as leader, he would also lose the premiership. Confidence votes are rarely aired publicly in New Zealand, where party caucus deliberations are usually secret. In addition, while parties choosing to replace their prime minister are not uncommon in some countries, it has not happened in New Zealand since 1997.
Luxon, a former airline executive, has seen both his personal and his party's popularity fall over the past year as the economy has failed to gain steam, unemployment has remained high and inflation has started to pick up again. Several polls have shown Luxon's National Party struggling to exceed 30%, with some polls indicating the ruling coalition might not have the numbers to win an election.
In a 1News Verian poll released late on Sunday, support for the National Party fell 4 percentage points to 30% and indicated that if the election were held today, the current coalition government would not win sufficient seats to retain power. Support for Luxon as the preferred prime minister also fell 4 points to 16%. Support for Chris Hipkins, leader of the Labour Party and a former prime minister, fell one point to 19%.
This is a particular concern for lower-ranked National Party lawmakers and those in marginal electorate seats, who fear that if the party can't turn its fortunes around ahead of a November 7 election, they will lose their jobs.
(Reporting by Lucy Craymer in Wellington and Renju Jose in Sydney; Editing by Christopher Cushing and Thomas Derpinghaus)
