John Key, the son of a poor, widowed Jewish immigrant from Austria, won a second term as Prime Minister at elections on Saturday.
Key’s conservative National Party defeated the opposition Labor Party in a landslide victory. He will likely still require the support of several minor parties to form a government, although he appears to have polled 60 seats in the 121-seat parliament.
The 50-year-old Key came into politics relatively late, entering parliament in 2002 after a successful career in the financial markets which saw him become global head of foreign exchange for Merrill Lynch.
He was born in Auckland to George Key and Ruth Lazar. His father was an English immigrant and a veteran of the Spanish Civil War and World War II. He died of a heart attack in 1967. Key and his two sisters were raised in government-funded housing by their mother.
Around 5,000 Jews live today in New Zealand. Most of them are from Eastern European background, with many being survivors of the Holocaust who arrived during and after WWII.
More recently, a significant number of Jews have arrived from South Africa and Russia.