By JOHN ROUGHAN
10.20pm - Auckland University political scientist Jack Vowles says the centre-left has been "remarkably lucky" after a campaign in which Labour and the Greens had been fighting each other and the Alliance had broken up, losing one of its most effective members, Laila Harre.
"This is not a great
victory for the centre-left," said Dr Vowles.
"It has been a lucky escape."
The election had produced a shift to the right in parliamentary terms, because the centre-left had campaign so badly, he said.
It was not a case of the electorate making an ideological shift. Dr Vowles believed the results pointed to a minority government with Labour and Jim Anderton having the ability to play off two parties against each other to gather the extra eight or nine votes it would need for a majority on each issue.
Full election results
How the votes get counted
