By Andrew AustinThe battle can begin now as Prime Minister Bill English has announced this year's general election will be held on September 23. Whatever the date, the game changer in this election was most certainly the resignation of John Key as Prime Minister and National will realise it needs to work that bit harder for a fourth term now it can't count on his personality for votes. He implied this at his press conference yesterday to announce the date, when he indicated the economy would be the "central issue". It is a good argument to make and is probably more of a winning platform than if he tried to be the new John Key. On the other side, Labour and the Greens believe it is their turn and they would have felt as if they'd won Lotto when Mr Key stepped down.

Source: New Zealand Herald February 03, 2017 09:01 UTC