New Zealand prime minister set to retain office

NEW ZEALAND premier Helen Clark appears poised to win another term in office in today's general election. The Labour leader says being prime minister is "the best job I've had" and opinion polls point to her keeping the post.

A former academic, Clark has kept her popularity with voters despite her dour image and a recent scandal where she signed a painting by somebody else and sold it as her own work at a charity auction.

Even unease expressed by allies like Australia, the US and Britain at Clark’s decision to scrap the air force’s strike wing of fighter jets has failed to dent her popularity.

She said the air force did not need the planes as no nation was likely to attack New Zealand.

Her government has been aided by good economic conditions that have helped New Zealand shrug off the global downturn. Clark’s main campaign pledge has been to offer three more years of stable government if she is re-elected.

Meanwhile, National Party leader Bill English has failed to halt an alarming slide in the popularity of his centre-right party which has been the dominant force in New Zealand politics since the Second World War.

Polls suggest the Nationals could lose up to 10 of their 39 seats as voters desert the party in favour of smaller parties as a way to check Labour’s power.

Clark had hoped to win by an outright majority to allow Labour to govern alone, but the rise in popularity of smaller parties like the Greens and New Zealand First could mean the ruling party and its potential allies might be returned with a very slim majority.

An election-eve poll showed the centre-left parties winning just 61 seats in the 120 member parliament. The New Zealand Herald newspaper warned “the country could face horse trading in the days after the election as the parties argue over policy concessions”.