Winston Peters says "of course" New Zealand First will last another 25 years.
The Acting Prime Minister was speaking to Mark Sainsbury on RadioLIVE on Friday morning when he launched an attack on the media.
"All of you commentators, election after election after election, are saying 'the polls say you're going to be gone, they're finished' and everything else - and then just to cover their tawdry backsides they say 'but you can never rule him out'.
"Now make up your mind, mate - 25 years we survived and the third-longest surviving party."
NZ First was formed in 1993 after Mr Peters resigned from National after being told he wouldn't be a candidate for the party. He initially stood as an independent in the 1993 Tauranga by-election, winning 90 percent of the vote.
The newly formed party won two seats at the 1993 general election, before the introduction of MMP in 1996 rocketed them to 17 seats and a place alongside National in the Jim Bolger-led Government.
It's been a mixed bag since then, twice helping Labour form the Government - under Helen Clark and Jacinda Ardern - but getting knocked out of Parliament altogether in 2008.
Mr Peters, 73, has not announced a favoured successor as leader. But he clearly expects the party will survive him.
"Of course we're going to be going for the next 25 years. We've lasted a quarter of a century, we're heading out for the half century now."
Newshub.
