New Zealand holds general elections

Polling booths around New Zealand opened on Saturday morning as voting began for 2011 general election and referendum.

More than 2,600 polling stations around the country opened at 09:00 a.m. local time (2000 GMT Friday) and will close at 07:00 p. m. ( 0600 GMT Saturday). Some three million eligible voters were expected to cast their ballots to elect members of the parliament.

Each voter has a party vote and an electorate vote. The party vote will help decide the share of seats each party gets in the parliament. The electorate vote helps decide who becomes the local members of the parliament. This year, the voters will also vote for the system they use to elect in the future.

A total of 13 registered political parties and 554 candidates are contesting the election, held every three years.

There were 63 general electorate seats, 7 Maori electorate seats and 52 lists seats in last parliament.

The preliminary election results are expected to be announced on Saturday night. The official results are expected on Dec.10.


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