New Zealand’s centre-right governing coalition has a path to return to power after taking a narrow lead in a closely fought election. With 97% of the vote counted early Sunday, National Party and its allies the libertarian ACT party and the nationalist New Zealand First party have 67 seats between them, enough to govern in a 130-seat parliament. But that small majority could yet be overturned when special ballots are counted, and the opposition hasn’t conceded defeat.“It is heartening to see that on the numbers so far, National is once again the largest party in parliament, and we have a pathway to forming the next government,” Prime Minister Christopher Luxon said.One of the big stories of the night was the rise of the centrist Opportunity Party, which will enter parliament for the first time and could end up holding the balance of power once the final result is known at the end of the month.