New Zealand's conservative National Party was returned to power in Saturday's general election, but failed to win the overwhelming mandate it had sought to govern without the support of coalition partners, according to dpa. With almost all of the votes counted, the head of the main opposition Labour Party, Phil Goff, conceded defeat. But while the Labour Party lost eight members of parliament, two smaller parties - the Greens and the nationalist New Zealand First - made substantial gains, preventing the ruling party from obtaining an outright majority. The Nationals' partners in the last parliament, the free market ACT party and the Maori Party, both suffered setbacks. ACT, whose policies are far to the right of National, lost four seats in voting that went against the trend. A renegade former National cabinet minister, John Banks, who joined ACT only recently in order to contest the election, will be its sole representative in the next parliament. With absentee votes still to be counted, the Nationals had 48 per cent of the total, giving them 60 seats in the House of Representatives, which will have 121 members. Prime Minister John Key will need the vote of Banks and the one-man United Future party, Peter Dunne, for a majority. Key told supporters that he had already had talks with potential coalition partners and was confident of being able to provide strong, stable, government for the next three years. "We've got the numbers and I'm confident we can carry on with our programme," he said. The Maori Party, which lost one of its four members to Labour, did not immediately guarantee to continue the support it gave him in the last parliament. Hone Harawira, who broke away to form the Mana Party, won his seat back but has vowed not to support a National government. With 27 per cent of the vote, Labour, which governed for nine years until it was defeated by Key's Nationals at the last election in 2008, has 34 seats. The Greens, with 11 per cent, gained four seats to reach a total of 13. It was the first time they topped 10 per cent of the total vote. "This is an historic night for the Green Party in New Zealand and around the planet," co-leader Russel Norman, told supporters. But the big winner of the night was New Zealand First, which had been wiped out at the last election in 2008, but was now heading back with an estimated eight members.
