News In Brief

New Zealand to vote early as legislative hold slips

New Zealand's prime minister announced Thursday he would call a general election because his party had lost its one-seat working majority in Parliament. Sir Robert Muldoon, the prime minister, said independent legislator Marilyn Waring had withdrawn her promise of support for government measures, leaving the government one seat short of a working majority in the 92-seat House of Representatives.

Sir Robert, who has been in office since November 1975, did not immediately announce a date for the vote, but the earliest an election can be held is about six weeks. A general election had been scheduled for November this year.