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NEW Zealand's caretaker Prime Minister Helen Clark returned to the capital Wellington today for negotiations with minor parties to form a government after the weekend's stalemate election result. The nation faces two weeks of political limbo before more than 200,000 special votes are counted but Ms Clark said she wants to put arrangements in place so a government can be formed quickly after full results emerge on October 1. Ms Clark, who has been Prime Minister since 1999, said she would hold "exploratory talks" with the minor parties, but this would be followed by a quiet period leading up to...

New Zealand's voting booths closed one and three quarter hours ago and with 25% of the votes counted it looks like Helen Clark won't have a third term as Prime Minister.New Zealand looks like it will be lead by Don Brash's National Party, in coalition with United Future and possibly ACT.

New Zealand's PM sets poll date New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark has announced that the country will hold general elections on 17 September. Ms Clark is seeking a third successive three-year term for her Labour-led administration. Two months of campaigning are expected to focus on the economy, New Zealand's relations with Washington, and the country's 20-year non-nuclear policy. Recent opinion polls have put the main opposition National Party slightly ahead of the ruling party. Ms Clark called the elections just a week before she was obliged to set a date. Analysts say she was buying time in an attempt...

Oscar Wilde's imperious Lady Bracknell would have told this Labour Government that losing the initiative once at Orewa was due to misfortune; twice looks like carelessness. Yet it¹s happened. Labour has again been caught looking foolish, frantically erecting straw men with the help of the media, deliberately misrepresenting Don Brash¹s views on adoption, and making contradictory statements of protest. One minute Steve Maharey calls Brash "an idiot", then wants credit for doing several things Brash recommends. It was the same last year. One standard of citizenship and an end to special privileges for Maori was ³racist². Until, that is, Labour...

Just days after criticising Helen Clark's "indifference to the institution of marriage", Don Brash has confirmed he had an extramarital affair. The admission is the latest development in the increasingly bitter battle between the prime minister and the Opposition leader. Yesterday Miss Clark objected to Dr Brash describing her as an atheist. Dr Brash admitted the affair with his second wife, Je Lan – while he was still married to his first wife, Erica – in an interview with Newstalk ZB yesterday. "I did have an affair. That's absolutely correct and I acknowledge that. It's not something I'm proud of,"...

A shock political poll showing National vaulting ahead of Labour has jolted the Government, but Prime Minister Helen Clark has vowed not to change direction. The One News Colmar Brunton poll showed National leader Don Brash's Orewa speech, pledging to end special treatment for Maori, pushed National up 17 percentage points to 45 per cent. Labour was down seven at 38, the first time it has trailed National since 2000. ACT fell five points to 1.3 per cent. NZ First fell five points to 6 per cent. Political analysts said it confirmed a significant change in fortune for National, though...

One rule for all: You're not special, Brash tells Maori Don Brash wants to strip Maori of their special status, saying a National government will revoke court-issued customary titles, do away with iwi consultation and scrap the Maori seats. In the strongest speech by a National Party leader on race relations since Sir Robert Muldoon, he last night accused some Maori of using the Treaty of Waitangi to make money and warned that Maori entitlements under the Government's foreshore and seabed proposal were so sweeping they invited corruption. Prime Minister Helen Clark said Dr Brash was engaging in the "politics...

Former [New Zealand] Reserve Bank governor Don Brash worries about New Zealand's future.Delivering his maiden speech in Parliament yesterday, 61 year old Dr Brash said he was a loyal New Zealander, proud of what New Zealanders had achieved over many decades in many walks of life. "But I also admit to being deeply worried. In 1960, the standard of living in New Zealand was closely similar to that in Australia.""By 2000, Australia's gdp per capita was about one third greater than that in New Zealand, meaning that on average, every man, woman and child in Australia was better off to...

TOP STORY FRIDAY, 26 APRIL 2002 T O P S T O R Y Don Brash resigns to stand for National 26 April 2002 BREAKING NEWS Reserve Bank Governor Don Brash said today he had resigned with immediate effect and will stand for the National Party at this year's general election.