WELLINGTON (New Zealand) - NEW Zealand on Saturday elected its first conservative government in almost a decade, ending the rule of one of the world's longest-serving elected women.

Mr John Key, a 47-year-old multimillionaire former foreign currency trader, swept easily to power in the South Pacific country of 4.1 million people, ousting Prime Minister Helen Clark's Labour Party.

NZ Clark to step down as party leader after loss AUCKLAND - NEW Zealand Prime Minister Helen Clark said she would step down as Labour Party leader after she was swept from power by John Key's National Party in Saturday's election. 'As is obvious to all, tonight has not been our night,' Mrs Clark told upset supporters in Auckland. ... more

'Today, New Zealand has spoken, in their hundreds of thousands, they have voted for change,' Mr Key, leader of the National Party, said in his victory speech, borrowing a slogan from US President-elect Barack Obama.

He made another reference to Mr Obama, saying that unlike the American there would be no new dog for his children after the election.

The worldwide financial crisis loomed large during the campaign, and Key named it as the most serious challenge facing the country.

'The state of the global economy and the global financial crisis means that the road ahead may well be a rocky one,' Mr Key said.

'Now, more than ever, New Zealand needs to be on top of his game.'

'Tomorrow, the hard work begins.'

Mrs Clark, who was seeking a historic fourth term that would have pushed her rule past a dozen years, accepted responsibility for a crushing loss by quitting as Labour Party leader. She will stay in Parliament, but out of the limelight.

'There's always a certain time-for-a-change factor and that took us out with the tide,' Mrs Clark told reporters.

She told supporters earlier that 'tonight was not our night.'

'So, with that it's over and out from me. Thank you New Zealand for the privilege of having been your prime minister for the last nine years, Kia ora Tatou,' she said, reciting a farewell in the indigenous Maori language.

As expected, the center-right National Party will have to rely on small allied parties to form a majority in Parliament, which under a complex proportional voting system will shrink by one seat to 122.

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

With more than 99 per cent of the vote counted, the Nationals and their allies will hold at least 65 parliamentary seats. Labour with its allies won 52.

Mr Key campaigned on domestic issues such as improving education and fighting crime, and blaming Ms Clark's government for the recession.

But he offered few big policy differences from Labour. Mrs Clark urged voters not to change governments because the economic crisis meant New Zealand needed consistency. She accused Key of stealing Labour's policies, and of having a hidden right-wing agenda.

Allies within Mr Key's coalition indicated they would try to squelch a hard-right agenda.

'The last thing New Zealand needs now with a new government is an outburst of extremism,' said United Future Party leader Peter Dunne, who is aligned with the Nationals and has been offered a ministerial post.

Mrs Clark was also hurt by a series of scandals this year, including fallout from fraud investigations into former Foreign Minister Winston Peters' party.

Mr Peters' New Zealand First party appeared to have lost all seven of its seats in Parliament, ending his 30-year career as a lawmaker.

Also notable was a rise in the vote for the Maori Party, which won one more seat for a total of five, but two short of its target.

Voters cast ballots at more than 2,500 polling stations set up in schools, churches and community halls across the country, perhaps best known for its 'Lord of the Rings' landscape.

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

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

Mrs Clark, a 58-year-old former academic and avid wilderness trekker with a reputation for a serious, even dour, demeanor, has led the country since 1999. -- AP