New Zealand Elections

New Zealand elections were held on Saturday. NZ operates on a parliament system with 120 seats up for vote. The main parties are the Labor, National and Maori. There are also smaller parties like Green, First and United. Until Saturday, Labor was the head party, lead by Helen Clark who was the Prime Minister. Helen Clark has been the Prime Minister for 15 years. On other interesting tidbit is that the smaller parties can hold seats in Parliament assuming they get enough votes. So you might have a couple people voted in to represent the Green party and I think there are 5 people in the Maori party.

Under the NZ parliament system, all seats are up for vote every 3 years I believe. With this election, the National party won the most number of seats and John Key was voted in as the head of the National party and the Prime Minster. There is not a waiting period like in the states- John Key is the PM effective the day he was voted in. People were looking for change just like in the US. Helen Clark actually ended up resigning from government all together and will be out by the end of the year. The Prime Minister also gets to appoint a Cabinet who is the senior policy making body.

NZ's head of state is Queen Elizabeth of England. She doesn't have any ruling authority in NZ though. She is purely a figure head. NZ also doesn't have financial ties to England.

Wellington is the center for the government. The "Bee Hive" is the main government building (picture included).

People here have been as much, if not more, interested in the US election then the NZ election. Obama winning has been a major topic of conversation. Everyone I have heard from is happy that Obama won and that Bush is out office. In all our travels over the world, there is a genuine dislike for Bush and the current politics.