Clark says Bush victory means business as usual

1.00pm

Prime Minister Helen Clark says George W Bush's victory in the United States presidential election means business as usual for New Zealand.

Helen Clark said she was sending a letter of congratulations to President Bush.

She was looking forward to congratulating him in person at the APEC leaders' summit in Santiago, Chile, later this month.

"I look forward to the New Zealand Government continuing its good relationship with President Bush and his administration," Helen Clark said.

"Our countries work together on a range of issues and I expect it will now be business as usual."

After a long night of counting the votes it was clear Mr Bush had been given a clear mandate to govern the US for another four years.

"It is a very clear result. You can't argue with a three and a half million to four million votes ahead, and given that George Bush polled that well on the popular vote it would have been a travesty if the electoral college hadn't delivered that result."

Helen Clark said both the US result and the recent victory of John Howard in Australia showed that voters responded to strong leadership.

"Where you have a strong leader and that strong leader communicates conviction about what they are doing and the economy is moving up ... it's hard for a challenger to beat," she said.

Green foreign affairs spokesman Keith Locke said the Government should stand up to Mr Bush more often in his second term than it did in his first.

"America has voted and the rest of the world now has to live with their choice," Mr Locke said.

"After four years of illegal aggression, contempt for international conventions and abuse of human rights we can't allow Bush to continue setting the agenda.

"We can take a lead, in the United Nations and elsewhere, to help curb the worst excesses of the White House.

"The rest of the world must be left in no doubt that we, unlike Howard's Australia, aren't just another of George Bush's 'South Pacific deputies'."


- NZPA