John Key votes today.

Wellington, Nov 8 NZPA - With 15 percent of the votes counted in the general election, National held a strong lead over Labour with 48 percent against 31 percent of the party vote.

The ACT Party, National's partner, had gained 3.5 percent and Labour's ally, the Greens, 6.3 percent.

New Zealand First, which has to reach 5 percent to hold seats in Parliament, had won 4.5 percent of the votes.

Early votes usually favour National, but if the results so far translated into a final result, National and ACT would have a clear majority of 67 seats in a 122 seat Parliament.

Labour and the Greens would hold 48 seats.

National was gaining in the early results from rural booths and the gap between the main parties was expected to narrow as big city booths came in.