Nationalist Takes Kingmaker’s Seat

New Zealand voters failed to pick a winner outright in Saturday’s parliamentary elections, putting a nationalist party that took just 13 percent of the vote in the kingmaker’s seat.

With 97 percent of the vote counted, New Zealand’s conservative ruling party received 34 percent to the opposition Labor Party’s 28 percent.

Incumbent Prime Minister Jim Bolger vowed to woo an old rival in the New Zealand First Party, but Labor also is trying to convince Winston Peters to join it in a centerleft partnership to control the 120-member Parliament.

Peters is a populist who has promised a return to traditional values, better health care and “a New Zealand controlled by New Zealanders.”

Relishing his new role as power broker, Peters refused to say which way he would jump.