The official election results in New Zealand reveal that National will require the support of both ACT and New Zealand First to form a government. These official results, including special votes cast overseas, show that National has lost two seats, reducing their total to 48 seats. The Green Party has gained one seat for a new total of 15. Additionally, Te Pāti Māori has secured two more Māori electorate seats, Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Tokerau, which were previously held by Labour. This means that Te Pāti Māori has won six of the seven Māori electorates, resulting in an overhang in the parliament.
This overhang increases the threshold for a majority, and as National and ACT combined have 59 seats, New Zealand First’s eight seats are necessary to form a government. The Labour Party, ACT, and New Zealand First saw no changes to their seat counts compared to preliminary results. However, special votes confirmed the return of some candidates, including Rachel Boyack in Nelson and Phil Twyford in Te Atatū.
In this election, a total of 2,850,527 legitimate votes were cast, with nearly 21% being special votes. Voter turnout among those enrolled was 78%, down from 82% in the previous election. Turnout in Māori electorates was 68%. Among eligible young voters aged 18 to 29, almost 83% were enrolled, compared to 81% in the previous election. National received over a million party votes, while Labour received over 767,000 party votes.
These results follow a three-week-long official count allowed under law and come after a general election in which debates around New Zealand’s future government took center stage. National Party leader Christopher Luxon and ACT leader David Seymour criticized the extended timeline for the official results, suggesting there might be some “upsets.” The final seat count is as follows:
- National: 48 seats
- Labour: 34 seats
- Green: 15 seats
- ACT: 11 seats
- New Zealand First: 8 seats
- Te Pāti Māori: 6 seats
