Clark beats opposition by single seat in New Zealand election

Prime Minister Helen Clark’s Labour Party beat the opposition National Party by a single seat in New Zealand’s cliff-hanger election today, but neither party won a clear majority in Parliament.

Clark appeared likely to hang on to power, despite a surge in support for the opposition National Party, which pledged to strip special rights from indigenous Maori and said it could dismantle the country’s 20-year-old nuclear-free laws.