Voters Oust Clark As Nz Turns Right
The Sunday Age
Sunday November 9, 2008
THE New Zealand National Party's John Key is the country's new prime minister after voters firmly rejected Labour leader Helen Clark's plea to resist change in the midst of the worldwide financial crisis.
Mr Key told cheering supporters that New Zealanders had voted for change, and though the road out of the financial crisis might be rocky, he pledged to work for a better life for all the country's citizens."New Zealanders have voted for a safer, more prosperous and more ambitious New Zealand," he said.Miss Clark, the prime minister for nine years, accepted responsibility for her party's loss and announced she would stand down as leader."I expect the Labour Party to elect a new leader by Christmas," she told supporters, shocking many.Mr Key's National Party captured 45.5% of the vote to Labour's 33.8%.Under New Zealand's hybrid voting system, this translates to 59 National MPs, who would form a centre-right coalition with two small parties, ACT and United Future, that would occupy 65 seats in New Zealand's 122-seat Parliament.The Labour Party won only 43 seats. The Greens, who assume the status of New Zealand's third-largest party, got 6.4% of the vote and eight seats.The controversial leader of the right-wing New Zealand First Party, Winston Peters, was tossed out of Parliament after three decades in politics. A former foreign minister in Miss Clark's administration, he has been dogged by scandals over undeclared political donations, including the use of a helicopter.The Maori Party, which won five of the seven seats reserved for Maori candidates, is unlikely to play a part in the new coalition government, despite pre-poll predictions that it could be the "kingmaker" in a close election.Mr Key, a 47-year-old self-made millionaire, spoke of his childhood after his father died and he was brought up in a housing commission house by his mother. He said he remembered riding his bike past the houses of families that were more wealthy, and vowing that his life would improve.Referring to New Zealand as a whole, he said, "this is not as good as it gets ... New Zealand has so much more potential".And in a dig at Miss Clark's campaign slogan, in which she called for New Zealanders to trust her experience, Mr Key said voters had placed their trust in him. He promised to be a leader for all New Zealanders.Miss Clark congratulated Mr Key, but said she had only one fear - that all she and Labour had achieved "doesn't go up in flames in a bonfire ignited by the right wing of politics".Mr Key, a former foreign exchange dealer whose personal fortune is estimated to be $NZ50million ($A44 million), was relatively unknown before the election campaign began.But his popularity rose as he championed small business and promised to improve New Zealand's economy to the point that the nation would stop losing so many of its citizens overseas. Nearly 480,000 New Zealanders live in Australia - more than 10% of the country's 4.3 million people.Miss Clark's hopes of a fourth term as prime minister faded beneath the economic woes accompanying the global financial crisis. Her call for New Zealanders to trust her leadership came unstuck when it was revealed that the Labour Party president, Mike Williams, had flown to Melbourne on a fruitless excursion to dig dirt on Mr Key.Despite voting not being compulsory in New Zealand, fine spring weather throughout the country ensured a high turnout at the polls yesterday, estimated to be well over 80%.However, election day was a muted event.Under New Zealand law, no form of electioneering is permitted from midnight until polling booths close at 7pm.The regulations are extraordinarily strict: all political advertising hoarding has to be dismantled by midnight, and no media comment of a political nature is allowed.
© 2008 The Sunday Age