Mr Key's National Party returned to office for a second term yesterday after winning an increased vote in the general election, however he did not win an absolute majority.

National Party campaign manager Steven Joyce says the new government will look quite similar to the one it replaces.

It is already guaranteed the support of the ACT and United Future parties, and the Maori Party is meeting today to determine if it will rejoin a Key-led government.

The Maori Party is opposed to National's plan to privatize state-owned companies, but may agree if Maori are given an opportunity to invest in the assets.

After Labour's poor showing, leader Phil Goff is expected to resign.

He says he will be announcing his plans at a caucus meeting on Tuesday.

The other winners from the election were the Greens, which doubled their vote to claim 13 seats of the 121-seat parliament.

In past elections, the Greens have found it hard to translate strong opinion poll support into votes.

But Greens co-leader Russell Norman said this time the party achieved its target of 10 per cent of the party vote.

Maverick politician Winston Peters was also returned to parliament after his New Zealand First Party scored above the 5 per cent threshold needed to get the party into parliament.

Under New Zealand's proportional voting system, parties must secure either a local electorate seat, or 5 per cent of the nationwide vote to get into parliament.

In the lead-up to the election, New Zealand First was given little chance of claiming any seats.

"We told people to wait for help. Tonight it has arrived," Mr Peters told followers after securing eight seats on Saturday night.

The final tally of seats could yet change when tens of thousands of absentee votes are counted over the next two weeks.

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