- National now has 48 seats, compared with 50 on election night.
- Te Pāti Māori has six seats, compared with four on election night.
- Greens have 15 seats, compared with 14 on election night.
- Labour (34 seats), ACT (11 seats), NZ First (8 seats) are unchanged.
- 123 seats in Parliament this term, after the Port Waikato by-election.
- 603,257 special votes – 20.9% of total votes (up from 17% in 2020).
The National Party has lost two electorate seats – and with it the ability to form a majority government with the ACT Party alone – in an enlarged Parliament, after special votes were counted.
The additional 603,257 votes have lowered National’s party vote by a fraction of a percentage point, from 38.95% on election night, to 38.06%. Labour’s share of the party vote grew from 26.9% to 26.91%.
The new majority needed is 62 seats, to account for the “overhang” created by Te Pāti Māori’s success in the Māori seats, and the extra seat needed for the Port Waikato by-election.
But National lost two electorate seats. Labour’s Rachel Boyack took Nelson and Phil Twyford has won Te Atatū in West Auckland, overtaking the National candidates by 29 and 131 votes respectively.
Robert Kitchin/Stuff
Party leaders David Seymour, Christopher Luxon, Winston Peters. Will these three be in a coalition? (Composite image)
This leaves National with 48 seats in Parliament – down from 50 on election night. Even combined with the ACT Party’s 11 seats, which were unchanged from election night, this is short of the majority needed for the parties to form a coalition government. New Zealand First has eight total seats, after gaining 6.09% of the party vote.
Te Pati Māori has increased from four seats to six, after their candidates defeated two seasoned Labour candidates. The Greens have gained one seat, from their 14 on election night.
Takutai Kemp won the Māori electorate seat Tāmaki Makaurau by four votes over Peeni Henare, while Mariameo Kapa-Kingi won Te Tai Tokerau with a majority of 517 votes over Labour Party deputy leader Kelvin Davis.
This has created an “overhang”, which means Parliament has to increase by two extra seats. On top of this, voters in Port Waikato will be heading back to the polls on November 25, after the ACT Party candidate died during the general election campaign. This will add a third seat to Parliament, taking the total seats to 123.
All other candidates leading on election night have held their seats.
The number of people casting special votes grew to 603,257 – about 20.9% of all votes, or 1 in 5 voters. The final voter turnout was 78.2%.
