NEW ZEALAND: New Zealand prime minister Helen Clark and National opposition leader Don Brash began the final day of campaigning yesterday before an election which opinion polls suggest is too close to call.
Polls over the past week have pointed to one of the closest ballots in the country's history, forcing candidates from the Labour-led government and National out on to the streets to eke out the last possible votes.
"It's very positive, but we're not leaving any stone unturned, we're out there chasing votes right to the last minute," Labour's health minister Annette King said.
A survey of 1,000 people published yesterday had Clark's centre-left government ahead with 44.6 per cent support, compared with 37.4 per cent for National. Other polls and bookmakers have National ahead after former central bank governor Brash campaigned strongly on promises of personal income tax cuts to be funded from forecast surpluses.
With neither Labour nor National expected to win an outright majority, the process of finding suitable partners to form a coalition government could take days or even weeks.