Just a few days after the US election New Zealand had a national election and similarly a 47 year old won, John Key. Big difference though. Key leads the Conservative Party replacing the 9 year former Prime Minister, who was both liberal, and one of the most environmentally oriented leaders in the world. New Zealand, like the rest of the world is suffering economically. Could it simply be that in the midst of an economic crash, could the population of a nation simply want a change from the prevailing administration to a new administration with new ideas? Amongst differences, Key told the Press he does not plan on getting a new puppy for his young kids, like Obama, as it appears he already owns a cat.
That's the whole idea of politics. If someone F's up, elect someone with the opposite philosophy. It shows that the voters don't really know which philosophies should be practiced and they're just looking for a "fix" and some "protection". How it is in the States anyhow.
Conservative and Liberal are relative terms, their degree of conservativism could be well different from that of the Republican Americans. In some countries the conservative party/es are as liberal or more than the Democrats in America if you pool them together