John Key Prime Minister

At 11.08am this morning, Prime Minister-elect John Key signed his warrant of office and just seven minutes later was sworn in under oath as the Prime Minister of New Zealand.

John Key is the youngest PM New Zealand has ever seen at just 47 years old, the same age as recent President-elect of the United States, Barack Obama. Prime Minister Key is the 38^th sworn into the role in New Zealand history.

Alongside Act and the Maori Party, the National party

will govern New Zealand over the next three years. Helen Clark of the Labour party officially resigned her ministers’ warrants earlier this morning at Government House.

Economy Structure

For New Zealand’s new National-led Government to be, John Key and future Finance Minister Bill English are rushing to set up shop for reasons far more pressing than the drive to assume power.

Officials from the Treasury and the RBNZ are expected to brief Key and English on the updated economic growth forecasts (or, presumably, growth deficits) any day now. It is expected that employment rates and the Government’s accounts will be looking the darkest. With the NZD exchange rates currently still sitting under 60 US cents, the pre-election fiscal updates that were released are expected to look even worse now than a month ago.

The pre-election fiscal and economic update (Prefu) was released in early October, however the data was finalised at the end of August, meaning foreign rate and other economic forecasts were not representative of the financial crisis to come in later months. It is expected that shortfalls will amount to around $1 billion more than as released in the Prefu.

Not since 1990 has a Prime Minister-elect arrived at Parliament the day after the election has a Government faced such financial disarray. Some 18 years ago, National came to power with Jim Bolger at the helm after a Labour-led term, and was told that the mostly State-owed Bank of New Zealand immediately needed a large injection of cash.

For more information on NZ’s economy and finance, check out our New Zealand finance section, updated daily at 3.30pm.

NZ Election Results

Last week’s polls were pretty much on the money, NZ elections results were counted and just before midnight on Saturday November 8, the Labour party conceded as the election results showed a clear win by National:

PARTY

National 45.5%
Labour 33.8%
Green 6.4%
NZ First 4.2%
Act 3.7%
Maori 2.2%
United Future 0.9%
Progressives 0.9%

SEATS

National 59
Labour 43
Green 8
Act 5
Maori 5
Progressive 1

United Future 1

Coalition talks begin this week and we can expect an official Government arrangement within 2 weeks. However, it has been made pretty clear by National party leader John Key that National will team up with Act, and talk with both United Future and the Maori Party to create a Government.

While the above are just the preliminary results – special votes must be counted in order for the Government to be officially sworn in – political commentators do not expect the results to change significantly. While the stated confirmation of Government date is November 18, Prime Minister-elect Key wants to fast track this in order to best deal with the current world financial crisis.

Election Day 2008

The last YouTube debate has screened, and all advertising material must be pulled down by the end of tomorrow in preparation for election day on Saturday. Have you made your decision? Experts estimate that one in four voters are undecided at this stage, so read up on the political parties New Zealand has to offer online and make sure you are informed before making your big decision.

Wondering where to vote

? Find your local polling office – there should be one pretty close by in your area. Voting opens on Saturday morning at 9.00am, and finishes at 7.00pm. If you can’t make it to a polling place on Saturday you have until tomorrow to place your vote in advance.

Voting is faster and even easier this year with your EasyVote card, which you will have received in the mail sometime during the last few weeks. It has all of your particulars on it (name, electorate, etc), and makes the voting process smooth and stress free. If you have misplaced yours don’t worry, you can still vote by producing your ID like you would have for the 2005 election.

Read up on NZ Elections to make sure you’re aware of how the process works on Saturday, and make a decision in support of your political allegiance.

YouTube Elections

We’re just hours away from the first election debate from the leaders of the political parties. Screening tonight on TV1 at 7pm, the televised debate will be made more interesting than ever by truly involving the New Zealand public – and making history at the same time.

Alongside TVNZ, the debate is run by YouTube, and will see questions posted via video on the popular streaming content website, to be responded to by the party leaders in the televised debate.

This enables any New Zealand citizen with a webcam a chance to communicate directly with political leaders in a way never possible before – and voice their questions and concerns at the highest level.

As New Zealand has often been a leader in both political strides and embracing technology, it seems a perfect fit to merge the two together in preparation for the upcoming 2008 election.

Go to the YouTube debate channel to post your questions now.

Image from Flickr.

National’s Tax Cut Package

The much-anticipated opposition tax cut plan has just been released by the National party in the last few minutes, and finally New Zealanders have a clear picture of what John Key has been talking about for several months.

It was revealed yesterday that National would scale back on tax cuts because of the declining state of the New Zealand economy. Breaking news has announced that if elected in the 2008 election next month, John Key plans to put an extra $15 in the average wage earner’s pocket each week above the current tax cut plan offered by the incumbent New Zealand Government.

National plans to, if elected, roll out most of the tax cuts in April next year, while the current Labour party plan sees cuts rolling out slower, culminating in 2011.

John Key will formally confirm figures this afternoon at a press conference in Auckland. Keep tabs on the NZS.com political news headlines

for updates.

Election Date

The Election Date for New Zealand was set just minutes ago, as Saturday November 8, 2008. Kiwis countrywide have been waiting for the announcement of this date for some time, so it’s a relief to all to finally put a day to the event.

And so the Election 08 race begins! Expect to see the Clark versus Key showdown come into full force in the coming eight weeks…

How to enrol to vote in the New Zealand Elections

In a strong attempt to gain exposure to the younger voting audience, the Electoral Commission has begun a prominent campaign of advertising including TV, radio, internet, and almost any other form of advertising you can think of. While it is the Electoral Commission that are determined to convince you to vote, it’s the Electoral Enrolment Centre that facilitates that vote and helps you through the process.

To facilitate your vote, this year the methods of enrolling to vote in the New Zealand Elections have been pushed across a wide variety of different options:

• Enrol online: You can enrol online on the elections.org.nz website. The website also offers frequently asked questions about how to enrol online.
• Enrol by post: You can enrol by post by downloading the enrollment application form, filling it out and sending it by post, fax or dropping it into any PostShop.
• Enrol by text message: There are even options around requesting enrollment application forms via text message from your mobile phone.

For general inquiries about enrolling to vote you can email the Electoral Enrolment Centre on enrol@elections.org.nz or phone 0800 ENROL NOW (0800 36 76 56).

If you’re deciding who to vote for, you can look for information in the NZS.com New Zealand Political Parties category.

NZ Election Information Online

If you hadn’t noticed, it’s election year in 2008. The media, government agencies and the various political parties are really starting to ramp up the election coverage. With a few different sites competing for your attention, here’s a list of some of the key election websites:

1. Elections.org.nz is the official NZ Elections site run by the Electoral Commission. It includes information like how to enrol to vote and how MMP works.
2. Each of the major NZ political parties have a website extolling their virtues and policies which you can find in the political parties category in the NZS.com Directory.
3. Both of the major television networks have election oriented websites with TVNZ running it on their own website (http://tvnz.co.nz/election08) and TV3 launching a dedicated election website (www.decision08.co.nz).
4. There are also a few independent election information websites such as the newly launched VoteMe.co.nz which are yet to be seen to be strongly used by NZ voters.

This year appears to be the one where a good portion of the information gathering and political electioneering is going to be fought for online. The introduction of Helen Clark and John Key Facebook pages are a great example of the changing face of politics.

Image from Flickr.