New Zealand went to the polls to choose the make-up of its fifty-second Parliament on Saturday, in a close-run race between the governing National Party and the opposition Labour Party.

WELLINGTON: New Zealand went to the polls to choose the make-up of its fifty-second Parliament on Saturday, in a close-run race between the governing National Party and the opposition Labour Party.

Doors to the polling booths opened at 0900 local time, though a record number of voters had already cast their ballots in advance. Voting would end at 1900 and the country's Electoral Commission would start releasing results half an hour later.

The centre-left Labour Party, led by recently appointed 37-year-old leader Jacinda Ardern, was vying against incumbent National. The centre-right governing party, led by 55-year-old Bill English, had been in power for almost a decade.

Around 986,000 ballots have already been cast, accounting for almost a third of the 3.2 million New Zealanders on the electoral rolls.

"Special votes," which includes ballots from New Zealanders overseas and those who vote outside their home constituencies, will only be released on Oct. 7.

These could have a considerable impact on the outcome, given New Zealand's large diaspora, and accounted for around 12 percent of the vote in the 2014 election.

New Zealand uses a German-style proportional representation system in which a party, or combination of parties, needs 61 of Parliament's 120 members - usually about 48 percent of the vote - to form a government. This means that minor parties often play an influential role in determining which major party governs. </s> WELLINGTON, Sept 23 (Reuters) - New Zealand went to the polls to choose the make-up of its fifty-second Parliament on Saturday, in a close-run race between the governing National Party and the opposition Labour Party.

Doors to the polling booths opened at 0900 local time, though a record number of voters had already cast their ballots in advance. Voting would end at 1900 and the country's Electoral Commission would start releasing results half an hour later.

The centre-left Labour Party, led by recently appointed 37-year-old leader Jacinda Ardern, was vying against incumbent National. The centre-right governing party, led by 55-year-old Bill English, had been in power for almost a decade.

Around 986,000 ballots have already been cast, accounting for almost a third of the 3.2 million New Zealanders on the electoral rolls.

"Special votes," which includes ballots from New Zealanders overseas and those who vote outside their home constituencies, will only be released on Oct. 7.

These could have a considerable impact on the outcome, given New Zealand's large diaspora, and accounted for around 12 percent of the vote in the 2014 election.

New Zealand uses a German-style proportional representation system in which a party, or combination of parties, needs 61 of Parliament's 120 members - usually about 48 percent of the vote - to form a government. This means that minor parties often play an influential role in determining which major party governs. </s> New Zealand polls open as record numbers of voters cast ballots in advance

New Zealand goes to the polls to choose the make-up of its 52nd Parliament today, in a close-run race between the governing National Party and the opposition Labour Party.

Doors to the polling booths opened at 9:00am (local time), though a record number of voters had already cast their ballots in advance.

Voting will end at 7:00pm (local time) and the country's Electoral Commission will start releasing results 30 minutes later.

The centre-left Labour Party, led by recently appointed 37-year-old leader Jacinda Ardern, is vying against incumbent National Party.

The centre-right governing party, led by 55-year-old Bill English, has been in power for almost a decade.

About 986,000 ballots have already been cast, accounting for almost a third of the 3.2 million New Zealanders on the electoral rolls.

"Special votes," which includes ballots from New Zealanders overseas and those who vote outside their home constituencies, will only be released on October 7.

These could have a considerable impact on the outcome, given New Zealand's large diaspora, and accounted for about 12 per cent of the vote in the 2014 election.

New Zealand uses a German-style proportional representation system in which a party, or combination of parties, needs 61 of Parliament's 120 members — usually about 48 per cent of the vote — to form a government.

This means that minor parties often play an influential role in determining which major party governs. </s> Voting has closed in New Zealand's general election Saturday where pre-election polls indicated it was too close to call between the centre-right National Party of Prime Minister Bill English and the centre-left Labour Party of Jacinda Ardern.

Under strict election day laws New Zealand does not allow exit polls during voting, which opened at 9am (2100 GMT Friday) and closed at 7pm (0700 GMT).

However, a firm indication of the outcome is expected within about three-and-a-half hours after the end of voting.

There were 3.2 million registered voters, of which 1.24 million cast an early vote.

The campaign has been the country's most volatile in recent memory, with momentum swinging from English to Ardern and then back again.

If neither English, whose National Party is seeking a record-equalling fourth consecutive term in power, nor Ardern can form a government outright, or with the help of minor support parties, the New Zealand First Party of populist anti-immigration campaigner Winston Peters looms as the potential kingmaker.

No party has claimed a majority government in New Zealand's 120-seat parliament since proportional voting was adopted in 1996. </s> Voting has opened in New Zealand’s most exciting general election in years, with New Zealanders asked to decide between the status quo of National or taking a punt on new Labour leader Jacinda Ardern.

New Zealand election 2017: record early voting as Ardern and English fight for win – live Read more

Polling booths opened in libraries, schools and town halls around the country at 9am (9pm Friday GMT) and will close at 7pm, after which results begin to roll in immediately.

A record number of voters have already cast their vote since booths opened in selected areas on 11 September.

More than 1.2 million people cast an early vote this year, compared with 717, 579 in 2014.. On Friday long lines were reported at polling booths around the country in what the electoral commission has just confirmed was the biggest day of advance voting on record with 253, 473 casting their vote.



The commission estimates 3,569,830 New Zealanders are eligible to vote this year.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Bill English serves ice creams in Pokeno, on the last day of the campaign. Photograph: Mark Mitchell/AP

Archaic legislation bans campaigning in any form on voting day itself, including banners, T-shirts and roadside advertising. New Zealand media is banned from publishing any politics-related articles other than how and where to vote. Even members of the public are unable to discuss their voting choices on social media until the polls close, in case they influence those who have yet to cast their ballot.

New Zealanders are being asked to choose between prime minister Bill English’s National party, which has had nine years at the tiller; Jacinda Ardern, just seven weeks into her leadership of a revitalised Labour party; the Greens, or one of the plethora of smaller parties, which include New Zealand First, the Opportunities party, the Maori party, Act and the New Zealand Outdoors party.

With the 120 seats in parliament elected via constituency and party lists, coalitions – formal or otherwise – are the norm and English or Ardern could be forced to court a kingmaker. According to opinion polls, that could be Winston Peters, leader of the populist, anti-immigration New Zealand First.

New Zealand election: polls give Bill English reasons to be cheerful despite 'Jacinda effect' Read more

Two months ago the crawl towards the general election was looking pre-determined. National, led by ex-finance minister English, was polling well and looked set to be returned comfortably to a fourth term in government.

Labour’s Andrew Little had failed to connect with voters, and on 1 August he stepped down as leader, nominating his 37-year-old deputy Jacinda Ardern to take his place – although she had previously said she had no interest in the job.

But within days Ardern’s campaign of “relentless positivity” set fire to the political landscape. Labour soared in the polls, climbing 20 points in a matter of weeks to overtake National as the preferred party, with Ardern ahead of English as preferred prime minister.

“The Jacinda effect, also known as Jacindamania, has been looming for a long time because she is a politician who has been a rising star and someone with a strong X-factor and charismatic personality for a few years now,” said Bryce Edwards, a political commentator.

“At this point the Labour party seems to have gone from a grey old party with a lot of doom and gloom about them, to a party of Corbyn-esque excitement and similar support.”

The UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn recently sent Ardern a video message of support, urging her to win “for all of us”.

Play Video 0:13 Jeremy Corbyn back’s New Zealand’s Jacinda Ardern in video taken by fan

However, in the last 10 days of campaigning, Labour’s momentum has began to falter and it has dropped seven to 10 points in the last three major polls.

The opposition’s campaign suffered significant damage when Ardern announced a tax working group would be set up to explore how best to tackle the country’s housing crisis, refusing to rule out the introduction of new taxes.

A later clarification that no new taxes would be introduced before the next election in 2020 was not enough to stop National from seizing the chance to launch an assault on the party’s economic credibility, claiming there was a NZ$11.7bn (AU$10.7bn/£6.3bn) hole in Labour’s fiscal plan. It was a claim not backed by a single economist, but one English rolled on with.

National, which has promised NZ$2bn of tax-cuts for middle-income earners, also claimed Labour would raise income tax – a charge Ardern labelled “scaremongering” and “lies”.

'I've got what it takes': will Jacinda Ardern be New Zealand's next prime minister? Read more

In the final week the Labour leader pleaded with young New Zealanders – who, alongside women, are her most loyal supporters – to get out and vote.

“We have called and knocked on thousands of doors and now we’re at the critical moment,” she said. “If you’ve seen any of the polls you know this is an election that is going to come down to turnout … please, please make sure you vote.”

For many New Zealanders the twists and turns of the 2017 election campaign have been unsettling, rather than exciting. Many are reluctant to upset the status quo, which has seen New Zealand’s economy survive the global financial crisis and two major earthquakes.

Tamati McLean, 38, a meat-worker from Bulls in the north island, told the Guardian he plans to vote for English because he does not trust Labour to deliver on its promises, which include eradicating child poverty, building 100,000 affordable homes in 10 years, and introducing a water tax.

“Jacinda has been saying all these things but until I see it with my own eyes I am sticking with National,” he said. “I need to see it with my own eyes to become real, and with National, I have seen it – so I believe it.”

Follow the results as they come in on our live blog. </s> New Zealand voted Saturday in a cliffhanger election pitting conservative Prime Minister Bill English against charismatic young rival Jacinda Ardern.

The campaign has been the most volatile in recent memory, with momentum swinging from English to Ardern and then back again.

"This election is going to be really close... it's a drag race between the two big parties," English said on the hustings Friday, conceding a large undecided vote could prove key.

Under New Zealand's strict election laws, exit polls are not allowed during election-day voting which opened at 9am (2100 GMT Friday) and closed at 7pm (0700 GMT).

However, a firm indication of the outcome is expected within three-and-a-half hours of the close.

There were 3.2 million registered voters of which 1.24 million cast an early vote.

No party has claimed a majority government in New Zealand's 120-seat parliament since proportional voting was adopted in 1996 and this election is unlikely to change that.

Pre-election opinion polls showed either English's conservative National Party or Ardern's centre-left Labour could be in a position to form a government late Saturday.

Another possibility was that there will be no immediate winner with both major parties seeking coalition partners to get them over the line.

If that happens, populist anti-immigration campaigner Winston Peters' New Zealand First party looms as a potential kingmaker.

Ardern was hoping for a high youth vote to counter her dip in the polls in the final week of campaigning and visited universities across the country encouraging students to cast their ballots.

"This is going to come down to whether or not people turn out and vote," she said Friday.

English's National Party was in the driving seat to win a fourth term until Ardern took over the Labour Party last month.

The 37-year-old galvanised support for the ailing centre-left party, giving it a 20-point popularity boost to bring it level with National.

Arden accused the government of inertia, saying that after three terms it has run out of ideas on issues such as housing affordability and protecting the environment.

Her policy platform includes free tertiary education and slashing immigration to reduce pressure on housing and infrastructure.

Ardern is bidding to become New Zealand's youngest leader since 1856 and only the third woman to lead the South Pacific nation of 4.6 million people.

But the "Jacinda-mania" phenomenon waned as English attacked her financial credibility while pointing to his economic record over the past nine years.

The 55-year-old ex-farmer and father-of-six, who took over as prime minister when John Key stepped down last December, argued only National can maintain strong economic growth.

English also wants to make amends for his last leadership foray in 2002, when National slumped to a record defeat and won barely 20 percent of the vote.

While tipping a close race, he is confident National can win a fourth term, a feat no New Zealand government has achieved in more than 50 years.

The wildcard for both English and Ardern is Peters, whose party could decide the outcome of the election if it is as tight as polls predict.

The 72-year-old political veteran has shown in the past that he will back either side if the right offer is made.

In 1996, he helped install a National-led government in return for being made deputy prime minister, then in 2005 he joined a Labour coalition after being given the job of foreign minister. </s> New Zealanders went to the polls on Saturday after the most hotly contested race in recent history, with changes to the country's openness to migration and trade and the central bank's approach to monetary policy among the possible outcomes.

The ruling National Party and opposition Labour Party had been neck-and-neck in opinion polls and will likely have to rely on minor parties to form a coalition in New Zealand's German-style proportional representation voting system.

A record 1.2 million votes were cast in advance, but neither major party was expected to win an outright majority. Negotiations with minor parties mean it could be weeks before a new government emerges.

"This has been an incredibly engaging and colourful campaign for New Zealanders and that isn't going to be over at midnight," said Bryce Edwards, an analyst at Wellington-based Critical Politics.

"The most likely scenario is we are going to have to wait two weeks when the final verdict is in from the Electoral Commission because it is just going to be so close," he said.

Jacinda Ardern, the charismatic 37-year-old who only became Labour Party leader in August, is vying to become New Zealand's third female prime minister and the youngest in modern history.

Prime Minister Bill English, who oversaw a disastrous election loss for the National Party in 2002, became leader last year after his predecessor John Key's shock resignation. His party has held power for almost a decade.

English and Ardern were expected to maintain fiscal prudence but will probably differ on monetary policy, trade and immigration. That will likely have implications for the New Zealand dollar, the world's 11th most-traded currency in 2016.

Ardern wants to add employment to the central bank's inflation-targeting mandate, which could mean more stimulatory monetary policy. She also wants to cut migration and renegotiate some trade deals, which some worry could hurt two key sources of growth for New Zealand's small, outward-looking economy. Polls closed at 0700 GMT and the day was eerily quiet until then, with the election hardly featuring in domestic news due to stringent restrictions on campaigning on election day. Preliminary results are due at 1130 GMT.

"Special votes", which include ballots from New Zealanders overseas and those who vote outside their home constituencies, will be released on Oct. 7.

These accounted for around 12 percent of the vote in the 2014 election and could have a considerable impact.

Ardern has called on New Zealanders to ditch "auto-pilot" governance, hoping to ride a global wave of change that most recently propelled France's Emmanuel Macron to become its youngest head of state since Napoleon.

She turned her flagging party's fortunes around in a matter of weeks but National, which has pinned its re-election bid on the economy's strong performance, has regained ground in recent opinion polls.

A tight outcome could weigh on the currency on Monday, as could results that foreshadow a change in government, analysts say. </s> SYDNEY (Reuters) - The parliament of Papua New Guinea (PNG) will elect a prime minister at the end of the week, lawmakers said on Monday, in an election marred by poor organization and opposition accusations of electoral roll irregularities.

With no political party able to clinch enough seats to form a government, analysts said the outcome remained too close to call, stirring voter frustration that could trigger more unrest in the resource-rich South Pacific nation.

On Saturday, incumbent Prime Minister Peter O'Neill was invited to try to form a coalition government, with his party on track to win the largest number of seats, although fewer than half the 56 needed, forcing him to woo coalition partners.

"The ruling People's National Congress and the main opposition, the National Alliance party, each believe they have the numbers, it is very close," said Jonathan Pryke, a research fellow at Australian think-tank the Lowy Institute.

Wednesday's vote to determine PNG's next parliamentary speaker will offer a clue to which party has the necessary support to win the prime ministerial vote, analysts say.

However, both decisions are unlikely to be made by a full complement of lawmakers, as vote counting continues after polls had to be extended when a large number of voters were unable to cast ballots.

PNG voters went to the polls to elect a new 111-member parliament in late June, but use of an electoral roll dating from 2012 meant many voters could not vote, forcing an extension of a two-week window.

Most of PNG's nearly 8 million people live at subsistence level on islands, atolls and in remote mountain villages, despite the country's mineral wealth, evidenced by energy giant Exxon Mobil's $20-billion LNG plant.

"It is most unlikely that all seats will have been declared by Friday," said a source close to the main opposition National Alliance Party, who declined to be named as he was not authorized to talk to the media.

"The numbers won't matter, the prime minister will be determined by the majority present on the day."

Voter dissatisfaction with the election triggered sporadic violence nationwide, but O'Neill's re-election could stoke more tension, as many are disenchanted by corruption allegations against him that he denies.

The winner faces a tough economic task, with the 2016 budget deficit of 34 percent of GDP having doubled from 2012, worsened by a slump in energy prices.

A 2016 drought crippled farming and halted production at the largest copper mine, by cutting off river transport and so fuel supply.

PNG must also grapple with fallout from plans to close an Australian-run detention center home to just over 800 refugees, mainly from South Asia and the Middle East.

Read the original article on Reuters. Copyright 2017. Follow Reuters on Twitter. </s> The nationalist New Zealand First Party has emerged the potential kingmaker in the general elections held on Saturday, as Prime Minister Bill English’s National Party won most votes but fell short of a majority.

The National Party clocked 46% of all votes, while rival Labour Party managed 35.8%, the final tally from New Zealand’s Electoral Commission showed. New Zealand First Party, led by controversial anti-immigration figure Winston Peters, had a 7.5% vote share.

New Zealand has a proportional voting system in its general elections. Their vote shares mean that the National Party bagged 58 seats and the Labour Party, 45. They will now attempt to strike alliances to reach the 61-seat mark for a majority in the 120-seat Parliament.

English said negotiations with Peters to form government will begin in the next few days. “...We go into negotiations with the intention of forming a stable government that enables this country to deliver for New Zealanders,” the prime minister told supporters, according to the New Zealand Herald.

The Labour Party’s Jacinda Ardern said, “Sometimes MMP [mixed member proportional voting system] leaves us with an outcome that requires a little bit of extra work.”
Voters in New Zealand go to the polls, electing all members of their House of Representatives and the consequent Prime Minister.