Your views, September 19

Living away in Seattle (and suffering under the Bush regime), I was anxious and am now elated. And a great moment in the greater presence of Maori political culture. I would love to see Helen work seriously with the new Maori party; this seems the real and dynamic future. A possible lesson to other nations. I would also love to see Helen find a vibrant replacement for her magnificent 'self', so that kiwis can ween themselves off and develop a new leadership focus up ahead of any next election. Congratulations you Kiwis. Got to love it.
- Gregory Whiting, Seattle

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Having steered NZ through to a position of economic security and stability, the Labour party deserves to be in control of the Treasury. National's tax bribes appealed to the selfish side of human nature. NZ is relatively undeveloped and needs a government with the self discipline not to squander our growing wealth on short term tax bribe gratification. We need to invest in our country's infrastructure to ensure that NZ is a great place for our future generations.
- Christina Carlyle

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I think all talk of either Labour or National forming the next government is premature. The country has to wait for the special votes to come through. If the major chunk of the special votes cast are Europeans or Maoris then its gonna be Don at the helm. But if they are Indians or Chinese there then it could be well a Labour led government. Let's face it the Kiwis (Europeans and Maoris) voted for a change. The Asians, ie Indians ,Pakistanis, Afghanis, Chinese, and even the Africans are hard and loyal Labour supporters. Was Don's party spoilt? Let's wait and watch.
- Irfan Saad 

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Helen Clark says "the election campaigning exposed divisions in society" and that "she is concerned about the polarisation that has occurred". A cynical perspective might well be that this is hardly a flash of inspirational insight, given that it is the policies and directions of her governance over the last six years that has resulted in this being the case. Not the least contribution to this unhappy state is her sustained attacks that have marginalised previously middle class New Zealanders, creating a new class of beneficiary reliant on state handouts to replace the earnings that have been pillaged from them by an opressive taxation regime and a government heavily slanted towards fringe minorities.
- Phil Walding

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Every New Zealander should be proud to be a New Zealander and respect it's chosen parliament. Eitherway, a chosen government and its people have to work together to keep New Zealand's economy flourishing in an ever dynamic,competitive world economies. Having lived in Singapore (with a small multi-cultural population like New Zealand), no system and leadership is without policies that are favourable to everyone. With so much bigger issues facing countries like terroism, natural disasters, etc, New Zealand has to stay focused on the big picture. Helen Clarke and her team have done an excellent job of building NZ's trade and development abroad and I believe, should she be re-elected, she will take the New Zealand forward for the future.
- Mariska Lee 

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The beauty of MMP is all inclusiveness. This election is an exhibition of division of vote for major issues. Helen Clark is an artist in managing minority government with coalition partners. This time the test for her is more stringent with Winston Peters giving more uncertainity to any needed support. Even if National pulls off a seat from the special votes plus the support of Mr Peters, Don Brash still has to handle minor partners for a full term - If there is no additional seat it may be too tough for Dr Brash to include the Maori Party in the coalition. My assumption is whether Helen Clark or Don Brash, whoever is heading the Government, they would go back to voters in less than 3 years - probably 12-18 months.
- Raj

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Brash could have done better by recognising working Kiwis. His intention of amending the Holidays Act and getting rid of parental leave wasn't good. Yet he talked about 'hard working Kiwis' and 'mainstream' New Zealanders, or those people who get out of bed in the morning to go to work. It was hard to understand this guy.
- Guy Kydd

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