WELLINGTON, Sept. 17 (Xinhuanet) -- New Zealand Labor Party leader and Prime Minister Helen Clark said Saturday night she was confident to enable the Labor to form a third term government, after the party won the general elections and obtain one more seatthan the opposition National Party.

    The preliminary results showed Labor has 50 seats and National 49 in the 122-seat Parliament, which has increased by two because the Maori Party won four electorate seats, more than its proportion of the party votes entitled it to.

    New Zealand First has 5.8 percent votes, the Greens 5.1 percent,United Future 2.7 percent, the Maori Party 2 percent, Progressive 1.2 percent.

    Special votes cast by New Zealanders living overseas still have to be counted.

    National Party leader Don Brash said he "is not conceding defeat" and will be spending a busy few weeks working to build a coalition government.

    Brash admitted his party is "not quite there yet. We cannot yetclaim a victory, but I am certainly not conceding defeat."

    Speaking to party supporters at her Auckland headquarters, Clark said, "We live in a very strong and robust democracy. This election has been very finely balanced and the result has been a close one."

    "I'm humbled that we have the opportunity to begin negotiations to form a new government. I want to thank all those who supported us today across New Zealand's many communities," said Clark.

    Political experts said though the National theoretically still has the chance to form the coalition government, the Labor with the priority has the most opportunity to head to the third term. Enditem