New Zealand's Prime Minister Helen Clark called general elections for November 8 Friday with her Labour Party behind in opinion polls amid a slowing economy and her foreign minister facing the axe.
Clark, bidding for a fourth straight victory, told a press conference she believed the campaign would be a battle of trust.
"It is about which leader and which major party we New Zealanders trust our families' and country's future with," she said.
Opinion polls have shown Labour trailing the main opposition National Party for several months, although the gap narrowed to 6.5 percentage points at the start of September from 16 points earlier in the year.