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Clark confident of stable minority government

By Louise Williams, Herald Correspondent in Auckland
July 29 2002

New Zealand's Labour Prime Minister-elect, Helen Clark, was confident yesterday that negotiations with small parties would produce a stable and manageable minority government.

She emerged from national elections on Saturday with a realignment in parliament that will blunt the Greens' veto power.

Detailed negotiations with three smaller parties are expected to begin today ahead of the formation of a second-term Labour-led administration.

Miss Clark said the distribution of seats in the new parliament had handed Labour the leverage it needed to ensure confidence and supply, even as a minority government.

Of immediate concern for Labour is the Greens' election threat to bring down the Government if it refuses to extend a moratorium on the entry of genetically modified crops into the country, due to expire in October next year. Labour wants to consider potential benefits of GM for farmers.

When asked if her incoming government could be "held to ransom" by the Greens, Miss Clark replied: "No, they no longer have that option, the way the vote has gone. At the point the Greens do not want to express confidence, then I am sure there will be another party which will want to."

Miss Clark said she would lead a minority coalition of centre-left parties, with the co-operation of the Greens, but will also begin negotiations this week with other parties.

Labour won 41per cent of the popular vote, or 52 seats in the 120-member single-chamber parliament, and will need the two seats of the leftist Progressive Coalition and the eight seats won by the Greens, or another block of seats, to govern effectively.

The National Party, Labour's traditional rival, was savaged as the conservative vote split. National had its worst result in almost 70 years, with only 21per cent of the vote, while much of the right-wing vote went to the blatantly anti-Asian immigration New Zealand First and the hardline economic rationalists of ACT.

The collapse of the National Party, which has led New Zealand for 38 of the past 50 years, has left the country without a cohesive conservative political force.

Saturday's election saw a significant rise in support for smaller parties, which took close to 40per cent of the overall vote.

The rising fortunes of a centrist Christian-based party, United Future, have dramatically undercut the Greens' veto power. United Future won nine seats, and its leader, Peter Dunne, has signalled he will put United Future forward as an alternative partner for Labour in discussions early this week.

The Greens are Labour's preferred, and most natural, ally despite the GM row. United Future is politically centrist but its Christian base would pose problems for a progressive Labour-led government on issues such as same-sex marriage and abortion.

Miss Clark has expressed her preference for minority government, and the Greens' support would probably be sought outside a formal coalition.

In the previous government the breakdown of seats handed a powerful veto to just seven Green MPs, but the new parliament offers a more balanced, and probably more stable, distribution of power.

The Greens' co-leader, Jeanette Fitzsimons, appeared conciliatory, saying: "I think you can assume anything we have campaigned strongly on we're going to put on the table and say, How can we make progress towards this?"'


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