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
Helen Clark in 1974 in Auckland but was not elected to any position. Following one unsuccessful attempt, she was elected to Parliament in as the member for Mount Albert, an electorate she represented until 2009. Clark held numerous Cabinet positions in the Fourth Labour Government, including Minister of Housing, Minister of Health and Minister of Conservation. She was Deputy Prime Minister from 1989 to 1990 under Prime Ministers Geoffrey Palmer and Mike Moore. After Labour's narrow defeat in the , Clark challenged Moore for leadership of the party and won, becoming the Leader of the Opposition. Following the , Labour formed a