Helen Clark World's 100 Most Powerful Women". By the time she left office in 2008 this had fallen to 56th. The 1999 general election produced a historic moment for New Zealand; for the first time, two women, Clark and Shipley, campaigned against each other as leaders of the country’s two major parties. Labour won 49 seats, an increase of 12, ahead of National's 39 seats. The first Clark-led Cabinet linked Labour with the left-wing Alliance Party. Alliance leader Jim Anderton served as Deputy Prime Minister under Clark until 2002. The coalition partners pioneered "agree to disagree" procedures to manage policy differences. Such
Prime Minister of India Front, the Samajwadi Party (SP) and Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) among others—proved a majority in the Lok Sabha, and Manmohan Singh was elected prime minister; becoming the first Sikh prime minister of the nation. During his tenure, the country retained the economic momentum gained during Prime Minister Vajpayee's tenure. Apart from this, the government succeeded in getting the "National Rural Employment Guarantee Act, 2005", and the "Right to Information Act, 2005" passed in the parliament. Further, the government strengthened India's relations with nations like Afghanistan; Russia; the Gulf states; and the United States, culminating with the ratification of India–United States