Wellington - The new Prime Minister of New Zealand, Ms Helen Clark, and her centre-left government formally took power after its outright majority was stripped by Green Party successes. The Labour-Alliance coalition's cabinet was sworn in only hours after results posted by the electoral office showed it had just 59 seats in the 120-seat parliament.
The Greens, with seven seats, hold the balance of power. Ms Clark said she did not think that having to rely on the Greens would make her term a difficult one.