New Zealand's governing National Party ahead in early results of knife-edge vote
Written by AI from aljazeera.com's report. Not checked by a person.
Early results show New Zealand's governing centre-right National Party narrowly ahead of the opposition Labour Party. The Electoral Commission says the Opportunity Party will meet the threshold to enter parliament.
Early results from New Zealand's closely fought vote show the governing centre-right National Party in front. National leads with 30.81 percent of votes, followed closely by the opposition centre-left Labour Party on 29.99 percent, a gap of less than one percentage point.
The country's Electoral Commission said on Saturday that the centrist Opportunity Party will meet the threshold needed to enter parliament.
Voting took place on Saturday. Polling stations opened at 9am local time, which was 20:00 GMT on Friday, and closed at 7pm, which was 06:00 GMT on Saturday.
The figures are early results only, and the report says more details are still to come. The source does not give final totals or say what the numbers mean for the make-up of the next government.
