John Key hopes to be sworn in as New Zealand’s prime minister next week after his centre-right National party won an emphatic victory at the weekend election that ended the nine-year reign of Helen Clark’s Labour party.
Mr Key, a 47-year old former banker who quit his job at Merrill Lynch in New York six years ago to enter politics and become his country’s leader, was swept to power on the promise of a better future for New Zealand, which sank into recession at the start of 2008 and is suffering from rising unemployment.
“New Zealanders have voted for action, for a safer, more prosperous and more ambitious New Zealand” Mr Key said in his victory speech in Auckland late on Saturday night. He had waited until after Ms Clark had conceded defeat when she also announced she would step down as Labour leader after 15 years.
“Tonight has not been our night ... I accept responsibility,” she said, before delivering her last attack on the National party as Labour leader. “I utter one fear, and that is that all we’ve worked [for] to put in place does not go up in flames on the bonfire of rightwing politics.”
The National party won 45 per cent of the nationwide vote and is expected to have 59 seats in the 122-member parliament. It will form a coalition government with support two minority parties, ACT and United Future, that between them secured an additional six seats.
At a press conference on Sunday, the prime minister-elect vowed to get on top of the economic problems facing the country, which is at risk of a prolonged recession that is widely expected to continue into 2009.
“The economy is front and centre stage of the issues we face,” Mr Key said.
He said he hoped to be sworn in as leader next Monday so he can represent New Zealand at the Asia Pacific Economic Co-operation group meeting in Peru. “There will be a collection of global leaders discussing the financial crisis. It’s extremely important for New Zealand to be there.”
However, Mr Key may face criticism for leaving the country so early into his new job. He has promised an ambitious reform agenda, including large tax cuts, caps on government spending, and a shake-up in the education system.
Barry Gustafson, a political scientist at the University of Auckland, said Mr Key will encounter early problems after setting expectations “very high”.
“One wonders when they look carefully at the books whether they can put through some of their policies,” he said.
Mr Gustafson said the election result was in line with opinion polls that had put National 10 percentage points ahead of Labour for the best of a year.
“They have a clear working majority but it was not a landslide,” he said.
“The Labour campaign was too negative and too directed at undermining Key. After nine years Labour tried to stress their record of competence and trust and that did not work.”
