WELLINGTON, New Zealand (AP) – The ruling Labor Party’s hopes of capturing a majority in elections later this month got a boost Monday, as a new poll showed support for New Zealand’s main opposition party at its lowest level in recent times.
The TV One/Colmar Brunton poll showed Labor at 53 percent support, up two points from a month ago and at its highest level in recent years.
The figure suggested that Labor could win between 67 and 72 seats in voting July 27 for New Zealand’s 120-member Parliament, putting the party on track to reach Prime Minister Helen Clark’s objective of governing without the support of a junior coalition partner. No party has ruled alone since proportional voting was introduced in 1996. Clark, whose Labor party occupied 49 seats, currently leads a center-left coalition.
Labor’s main center-right opponent, the National Party, slumped to 27 percent in the nationwide poll, down 5 percent from a month ago.
No party in New Zealand has ever overcome a 26 percentage poll deficit in a general election campaign. National would lose at least 5 of its 39 seats at current support levels.
Of the six minor parties in the Parliament, only the Greens are rising in public approval as campaigning opens. They are expected to double their vote at the last general election in 1999.
Up two points to 9 percent in the poll, the Greens are winning support by campaigning that no genetically modified plants or animals should be allowed out of laboratories to “contaminate” the countryside.
Clark has said that condition rules them out as a potential postelection coalition partner. Under the country’s electoral rules, parties must win at least 5 percent of the nationwide vote to be assured of seats in Parliament.
