India, Nov. 7 -- With more than 80 per cent of the votes counted, New Zealand's election produced no definitive victory for the right or the left on Saturday but the incumbent conservative Government hovered on the brink of a wafer-thin majority that could allow it to eke out a precarious return to power.

Christopher Luxon's National party and its minor party coalition partners, libertarian ACT and populist NZ First, were getting close to the slimmest possible return - by just one seat. It suggested that securing a second term could take lengthy negotiations and would rely on votes counted after election day, which have historically skewed left. The leftwing bloc, led by the Labour party and Chris Hipkins, appeared to have fallen short o...