Free Republic

NEW Zealanders will decide the fate of Prime Minister Helen Clark tomorrow following an election campaign branded "ugly" by global standards. The latest polls show Ms Clark, whose Labour Government has been in power for nine years, is fighting for her political life. She is up against National Party leader John Key who has doggedly pursued two boyhood ambitions – one to make a million dollars, the other to become New Zealand's prime minister. The first he's managed with ease. His career as an investment banker has helped him amass a fortune of $NZ50 million ($43.7 million). The second for...

Prime Minister John Howard's final news conference during his trip to Wellington has ended abruptly with his New Zealand counterpart Helen Clark walking out. Sections of the New Zealand press corp zeroed in on the gulf between John Howard and Helen Clark over Iraq, asking whether Ms Clark thought things were better or worse in Iraq as a result of the 2003 invasion. "Well, I don't really want to go down that track today," she said. When questioning persisted, Ms Clark called an abrupt halt to the press conference. "I'm sorry, you endeavour to heckle from the back row of...

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...