(Angus Reid Global Monitor) - The conservative National party remains ahead in New Zealand, according to a poll by Roy Morgan International. 52 per cent of respondents would support the official opposition party in this year’s election.

The governing Labour party is second with 31 per cent, followed by the Greens with 7.5 per cent, New Zealand First with 6.5 per cent, the Maori Party with one per cent, United Future also with one per cent, ACT with 0.5 per cent, and the Progressives also with 0.5 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 Jul. 20, Maori Party candidate Derek Fox—who is campaigning to unseat current Maori affairs minister Parekura Horomia in this year’s election—called on voters to look past the allegations of domestic violence that were levelled against him recently, saying, "These things happened a long, long time ago. I would have thought that there’s an opportunity for the people in New Zealand, who talk about being fair and giving someone a fair go, that there might be some opportunity for that to occur."

The next election is expected to take place in September 2008.

Polling Data

If an election were held today which party would receive your party vote?

Source: Roy Morgan International
Methodology: Interviews with 871 New Zealand voters, conducted from Jun. 30 to Jul. 13, 2008. No margin of error was provided.

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