New Zealand
NZ's Clark calls September 17 election, lags in polls
By Reuters
Jul 25, 2005, 12:01

WELLINGTON (Reuters) - New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark called a general election for September 17 on Monday as she seeks a third term for her centre-left Labour Party, which is struggling in opinion polls.

Clark, prime minister for six years, waited almost until the last possible date to give herself time to reverse a swing in the polls which has seen Labour lose a 10 percentage point lead since the beginning of the year.

The election is expected to be fought mainly on local issues, such as tax cuts, following a series of controversies involving some ministers, a poorly received budget in May, and a resurgence of support for the opposition centre-right National Party.

"The choice between New Zealanders this election is a stark one -- it's between the Labour government with our strong record of achievement and leadership, and an inexperienced opposition making wild promises which don't add up," Clark said.

Labour, which has presided over five years of strong economic growth and debt reduction, has also said the National Party would end a long standing ban on nuclear ships entering New Zealand waters, and would closely align foreign policy with the United States.

However, National Party leader, former Reserve Bank of New Zealand governor Don Brash, has played down foreign policy issues and said on Monday his party would focus on tax, education, and the social welfare system.

"This election is about finally tackling the issues of mainstream New Zealanders, after six years of Labour's ... social engineering," Brash said in a statement.

New Zealand financial markets were unmoved by the announcement, with September 17 having been widely touted as the likely date.

NECK AND NECK

A median of four opinion polls compiled by Reuters put support for Labour at 37.6 percent, 3.7 percentage points less than it polled at the last election in July 2002.

The National party, in power for most of the 1990s, was at 39.6 percent, after a disastrous showing of 20.9 percent in 2002, having eaten into Labour's lead in the past six months.

A similar result on election night would mean Labour and National would need either a formal coalition partner or at least support on key measures from smaller parties.

New Zealand uses a proportional voting system with a mix of local electoral seats, and seats distributed between the parties based on their final share of the overall vote. Parties must win either a local seat or at least 5 percent of the vote to gain a seat in the 120 seat single chamber Parliament.



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