Final election results could be known before Saturday

The Electoral Office is not guaranteeing the final election results will be issued on Saturday.

An Electoral Office spokeswoman said the results could be posted on the office's website as early as Friday or late as Sunday depending on how the counting went.

Good progress was being made, but the Chief Electoral Officer David Henry could not yet commit to a deadline for the results to be declared, the spokeswoman said.

Talks to form a government have been left to senior political officials this week as party leaders take a break as they await the final results.

Caretaker Prime Minister Helen Clark has met the leaders of the five parties she is likely to deal with when she tries to form a government after special votes are counted and final results are declared.

Those parties are the Greens, New Zealand First, United Future, the Maori Party and the Progressive Party whose support is already assured with sole MP Jim Anderton returning to the cabinet.

The Greens are committed to supporting Labour, but Helen Clark needs at least one other party to give her a majority on confidence votes in the new 122-member Parliament.

Its is possible, but unlikely, that the negotiating positions could seriously change if the final results are vastly different due to special votes not following the pattern of election night results.

Amongst the possibilities are: Labour and/or the Greens gaining another MP at the expense of National, the Greens falling below the 5 per cent party threshold and disappearing from Parliament; National drawing level with Labour; the number of MPs reducing from 122 to 121 if the Maori Party increases its share of the party vote or other minor parties such as the Progressive Party gaining another MP.

Helen Clark has indicated she would prefer to run a minority government with other parties supporting Labour on confidence votes.

The Greens have already made her job easier by co-leader Rod Donald saying they would not insist on a coalition deal and seats at cabinet.

- NZPA