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WELLINGTON - NEW Zealand's Prime Minister-elect John Key started work on Sunday to form a new government after his centre-right National Party swept to victory in national elections.
Mr Key will form a government with the support of the small conservative parties ACT and United Future after a big swing on Saturday against Mrs Helen Clark's Labour Party.
New Zealand's three million voters showed a clear desire for change, bringing the curtain down on Mrs Clark's nine years in power.
Mr Key told reporters late on Saturday he was confident he and deputy Bill English could successfully tackle the fallout of the global economic crisis.
'I'm very confident we can work our way through it. I'm very confident about our policies, our positions,' he said after his victory speech to jubilant supporters in Auckland.
'It will be pretty tough in the next year.'
The National Party won 45.5 per cent of the vote, or 59 seats in the 122-seat Parliament. Mr Key will have a majority with the support of allies the right-wing ACT Party with five seats and one more from United Future's Peter Dunne.
Mr Key said he would meet ACT leader Rodney Hide and Dunne on Monday but it was not immediately clear whether the three parties would form a formal coalition or a looser alliance.
The 47-year-old former investment banker with a fortune estimated at US$29 million (S$43.4 million) said he also wanted to form a relationship with the Maori Party, which represents the interests of New Zealand's indigenous population.
Mr Key does not need the support of the Maori Party, which secured five seats in the election, but said it was important for National to form a long-term relationship with them. -- AFP
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