The polls had predicted a close race, but when New Zealanders learned the preliminary results of their election on September 17th, they were still surprised. The two biggest parties were so evenly matched that the absentee ballots might yet change the outcome. The Labour Party, which headed the outgoing coalition government, pipped its chief rival, the National Party, by fewer than 23,000 votes— with some 218,000 left to count. The final results will not be known until October 1st, leaving the country in political limbo for two weeks. Labour's current tally would give it 50 of 122 seats in parliament, one ahead of National (see chart on next page). But it also has more potential coalition partners, since the Green and Maori parties are unlikely to throw in their lot with National, while two centrist parties, New Zealand First and United Future, are sticking to their campaign pledge to negotiate first with whichever party turns out to have topped the poll.
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