New Zealand

General Information:

On October 14, 2023, parliamentary elections were held in New Zealand. The election results were as follows:

Election Results:

National Party: 1,085,851 (party vote) and 1,192,251 (electorate vote), 38.08% (party) and 43.47% (electorate), 48 seats

Labour Party: 767,540 (party) and 855,963 (electorate), 26.92% (party) and 31.21% (electorate), 34 seats

Green Party: 330,907 (party) and 226,575 (electorate), 11.61% (party) and 8.26% (electorate), 15 seats

ACT New Zealand: 246,473 (party) and 149,507 (electorate), 8.64% (party) and 5.45% (electorate), 11 seats

New Zealand First: 173,553 (party) and 76,676 (electorate), 6.09% (party) and 2.80% (electorate), 8 seats

Te Pāti Māori: 106,584 (electorate votes), 3.89%, 6 seats

Source: Electoral Committee

Description of the Electoral System:

New Zealand uses a Mixed Member Proportional (MMP) electoral system to elect the 120 members of the House of Representatives. Each voter casts two votes: one for a political party (the party vote) and one for a local candidate (electorate vote).

Political parties that meet the threshold (either 5% of the party vote or one electorate seat) qualify for proportional seat allocation based on their party vote.

72 of the 120 seats are filled by electorate MPs, elected using first-past-the-post in 72 constituencies: 65 general electorates (49 in the North Island, 16 in the South Island) and 7 Māori electorates. These boundaries were unchanged from 2020 but are expected to be redrawn in 2024 following the 2023 census.

The remaining 48 seats come from closed party lists. If a party wins more electorates than its party vote entitles it to, overhang seats are created, temporarily increasing the total number of MPs beyond 120.

In 2023, this occurred due to the death of Neil Christensen, ACT’s candidate for Port Waikato, on October 9. A special election was scheduled for November to fill that seat, marking the first such case since the adoption of MMP (and since 1957). Port Waikato voters still cast their party vote during the general election.

New Zealand law requires that 120 seats, excluding overhangs, be filled proportionally from the general election. As a result, 49 list MPs were elected through the general vote, and a 121st MP would be elected in the Port Waikato by-election.

Since the introduction of MMP in 1996, no party had won an outright majority until Labour’s 2020 landslide victory, gaining 65 seats. In all other cases, parties needed to form coalition or minority governments by negotiating support with others.

In 2023, with 123 total seats (due to one Port Waikato seat and additional overhangs from Te Pāti Māori), forming a government required at least 62 seats for a majority. The last time Parliament had this size of overhang—three extra seats—was in 2008.

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The New Zealand Herald