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New Zealand’s National Keeps Large Lead
(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - New Zealand’s main opposition party is clearly dominating the country’s political scene, according to a poll by Colmar Brunton released by One News. 55 per cent of respondents would vote for the conservative National party in the next election to the House of Representatives.
The governing Labour party is second with 29 per cent, followed by the Greens with seven per cent, the Maori Party with 4.4 per cent, New Zealand First with 3.2 per cent, and ACT with less than one per cent.
Labour leader Helen Clark has acted as New Zealand’s prime minister since December 1999. In November 2006, Don Brash—who had served as National’s leader since October 2003—announced his resignation and was substituted by finance spokesman John Key.
In the September 2005 ballot, Labour elected 50 lawmakers to the 121-seat House of Representatives, and assembled a coalition government with the Progressives. United Future and New Zealand First agreed to support the administration in confidence and supply votes for three years. National finished second, with 48 legislators.
On Jun. 26, official numbers revealed that New Zealand’s consumer confidence has dropped to its lowest level since 1991. Donna Purdue, senior economist at Westpac in Wellington, commented on the findings, saying, "There is plenty for consumers to be down about, and they will continue to look at ways to cut back on spending. (…) The Reserve Bank expected a deep retrenchment in spending, and the fall in confidence is consistent with that view."
The next election is expected to take place in September 2008.
Polling Data
Thinking about the Party Vote, which is for a political party, which political party would you vote for?
|
Jun. 2008 |
May 2008 |
Mar. 2008 |
|
|
National |
55% |
55% |
50% |
|
Labour |
29% |
29% |
35% |
|
Green |
7% |
7% |
7% |
|
Maori Party |
4.4% |
2.5% |
3.3% |
|
New Zealand First |
3.2% |
4.4% |
2.5% |
|
ACT |
0.8% |
1.2% |
0.9% |
Source: Colmar Brunton / One News
Methodology: Telephone interviews with 1,000 New Zealand voters, conducted from Jun. 14 to Jun. 19, 2008. Margin of error is 3.1 per cent.