New Zealanders chose a multimillionaire former foreign currency trader Saturday to lead them through the global financial meltdown, handing long-serving left-wing Prime Minister Helen Clark a crushing election defeat.

John Key’s conservative National Party easily won power in New Zelaland, known internationally for its pristine environment and as the backdrop to the “Lord of the Rings" movies.

“Today, New Zealand has spoken, in their hundreds of thousands, and they have voted for change,” Key told supporters at a victory celebration in Auckland.

The National Party looked unlikely to have gained an outright majority in parliament but is assured of assuming power due to the support of the small free-market ACT party.

When final counts were received from all polling stations, National had 45 per cent of the vote and Labour had 34 percent. That would translate into 59 seats for National in a 122-seat parliament, up 48 seats from the previous parliament, compared to Labour’s 43, a fall from 49. The ACT Party won 5 seats and the centrist United Future, which also offered support for National, took one.

New Zealand’s farming export-dependent economy fell into recession early this year, and Key said the worldwide downturn is the most immediate problem for the country.

He is expected to inplement tax cuts and extra spending to help cushion an economy already in recession and has promised more right-leaning government than Clark’s, which for almost a decade made global warming a key policy issue and led international condemnation of scientific whaling.

In a country where the environment is a mainstream political issue, Key has said he would scale back Clark’s greenhouse gas emission trading scheme to protect businesses from financial losses, and reduce red tape that he says will entangle infrastructure projects, such as dams, because of environmental concerns.

Key will not need the support of the indigenous Maori Party, which won five seats but said he would reach out to them anyway and seek their support in Parliament.

Foreign affairs and trade policies are unlikely to change under Key, including the long-standing ban on nuclear-powered ships entering New Zealand ports which has rankled the US.

New Zealand’s small number of troops doing reconstruction work in Afghanistan will remain. New Zealand has no troops in Iraq.

In a surprise move, Clark said she would quit as Labour leader.

“My job as leader of the Labour party is complete, I will be standing down and I will be expecting Labour colleagues to elect a new leader before Christmas,” she told supporters.

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