New Zealand election voting ends

Polling stations closed across New Zealand on Saturday, with the ruling centre-right National Party and main opposition Labour Party near deadlocked in the popular vote as counting began in the nationwide general election.

Results from the Electoral Commission showed that with 27.4 percent of the results counted, both parties were polling just short of 30 percent of the popular vote, with just a few thousand votes separating the two.

Official results will be released on 27th November.