Early vote counts in New Zealand's general election showing Prime Minister Bill English's National Party ahead but not by enough to form a government without help from other parties. That means New Zealanders may need to wait for days or weeks before knowing who their next leader will be as the different political parties try to negotiate with each other to form a coalition.<br/><br/>Under New Zealand's proportional voting system, large parties typically must form alliances with smaller ones in order to govern. That means there is still a chance that Mr English's main challenger, Labour's Jacinda Ardern, could get the top job.<br/><br/>According to the Electoral Commission, with 70 per cent of the vote counted, National was leading with 46.5 per cent, while support for Labour was 35.5 per cent. The nationalist New Zealand First Party had 7.4 per cent of the vote so far. Votes for the Green Party, which has a working agreement with Labour, reached 5.9 per cent.