Nov 3 (Reuters) – New Zealand’s ruling National party and centre-left opposition Labour are neck-and-neck in the final days before Saturday’s general election, according to the latest opinion polling.
• The final 1News Verian poll released on Tuesday put the conservative National Party at 30%, up one point, narrowly ahead of Labour, which gained two points to 29%
• The Greens were up one point to 16%
• ACT and NZ First, currently in a coalition with National, were both down two points to 10% and 8%, respectively
• The centrist Opportunity party was unchanged at 6%
• Te Pati Maori was up 0.3 points to 0.4%
• The numbers mean either a right coalition with National, ACT and NZ First, or a left bloc with Labour, the Greens and Te Pati Maori, would need support from Opportunity to form a government
• New Zealand uses a mixed-member proportional system, which tends to favour coalition governments
(Reporting by Christine Chen in Sydney; Editing by Saad Sayeed)
