KEY POINTS:
In less than 48 hours polls open in the United States for the presidential election and according to the US Embassy in Wellington, a significant number of people in New Zealand will be watching the results closely.
Embassy spokeswoman Janine Burns said they had seen an "unprecedented" level of interest in the presidential race between Democrat Barack Obama and Republican John McCain.
The number of requests by American citizens for help voting in the United States election from overseas had grown with every election, she said.
"The Consulate-General in Auckland has been fielding inquiries from would-be voters for the last 18 months, with a marked upsurge over the last three or four weeks."
They had received between 4000 and 5000 requests from people wanting to register as absentee voters or requesting a ballot.
"However, as not all would-be voters will contact us, the likely figure of NZ-based US voters will be higher than this," Ms Burns said.
The embassy estimated there were about 30,000 Americans living in New Zealand - although figures on the overall number of eligible American voters living here were imprecise, as not all Americans registered with the US authorities here.
Ms Burns said there was also a lot of interest in the presidential election from New Zealanders.
A poll released yesterday from Research New Zealand showed 14 per cent of New Zealanders were more interested in the US presidential election than the New Zealand general election on Saturday.
A further 13 per cent said they were just as interested in the presidential race as the New Zealand election.
"It's great that the presidential election is generating such intense interest outside the United States. A high voter turn-out is predicted," Ms Burns said.
- NZPA
