WELLINGTON, Sept 17: New Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark’s Labour Party held a wafer-thin lead over the main opposition as voting ended in Saturday’s general election, but the ruling party did not win enough votes to rule alone.

The centre-left Labour won 40.6 per cent of the vote, with the opposition National Party taking 39.7 per cent, as the question of who would lead the new government now lay with New Zealand’s minor parties.

Labour’s Finance Minister Michael Cullen said it could be at least two weeks before the final outcome is known, with special votes to be counted and Labour and National negotiating with six minor parties which qualify for parliamentary seats.

“Every possible permutation is still in play,” Mr Cullen told National Radio.

Helen Clark, a 24-year parliamentary veteran, was not prepared to claim victory, but said she was ‘humbled to have the opportunity to begin negotiations to form a new government’.

Conservative National Party leader Don Brash, a political novice with less than three years parliamentary experience, led a meteoric comeback by his party, which nearly doubled its vote from the last election, and said he expected to form a new government.

“We can’t yet claim a victory, but I’m certainly not conceding defeat,” he said.

“In the days and weeks ahead, we hope we can be successful in putting together a National-led government.”

Under New Zealand’s proportional voting system, parliament is expected to increase from 120 to 122 seats after the new Maori Party won in four constituencies.

Voting day numbers gave Labour 50 seats and National 49.

The likely kingmaker was New Zealand First leader Winston Peters who said he would not offer support to either Labour or National until the final result is known.

“Because we don’t know what the outcome of the election is, I’ve got no intentions of speculating on what we may do today, tomorrow or the intervening days until the final results are in,” he said.

Ms Clark refused to answer questions about how the rift between the Greens and United Future would affect her negotiations.

“I shall be talking to a range of parties about what can best promise a strong and stable government,” she said.—AFP