New Zealand’s National and Labour in dead heat days before election, poll shows

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)

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