National party loses two seats in final election results

The Electoral Commission has declared the official results for the 2023 General Election. (Further analysis follows).

Party vote - main points  

The National Party has two fewer seats, Te Pāti Māori has gained two, and the Green Party has gained one more.   

• The number of seats in Parliament on these results will be 122.  
• The National Party has 48 seats compared with 50 on election night.  
• Te Pāti Māori has 6 seats compared with 4 on election night.  
• The Green Party has 15 seats compared with 14 on election night. 
• There are no changes for the Labour Party which has 34 seats, ACT New Zealand which has 11 seats, and the New Zealand First Party which has 8 seats.  
• There is an overhang of two seats because Te Pāti Māori won more electorate seats than it would otherwise have from its share of the party vote.  
• One more seat will be added to Parliament after the Port Waikato by-election, taking the total to 123. 

Electorate vote – main points  

Four electorate results have changed since election night: 

• Labour candidate Rachel Boyack has won Nelson with a majority of 29 votes over the National candidate Blair Cameron. 
• Labour candidate Phil Twyford has won Te Atatū with a majority of 131 votes over the National candidate Angee Nicholas.  
• Te Pāti Māori candidate Takutai Tarsh Kemp has won Tāmaki Makaurau with a majority of 4 votes over the Labour candidate Peeni Henare.   
• Te Pāti Māori candidate Mariameno Kapa-Kingi has won Te Tai Tokerau with a majority of 517 over the Labour candidate Kelvin Davis.  

All other electorate candidates leading on election night have been confirmed as winning their seats.  

Key statistics  

• The total number of votes cast was 2,883,412.   
• The number of special votes was 603,257 - 20.9% of total votes (17% in 2020 & 2017).  
• Turnout of people who were enrolled to vote was 78.2% (82.2% in 2020, 79.8% in 2017).   
• The final enrolment rate was 94.7% (94.1% in 2020, 92.4% in 2017). 

Background 

The official results for the General Election held on 14 October 2023 have been determined in accordance with the requirements of electoral legislation.  

The scrutiny of the rolls has been completed and the master roll for each electorate has been prepared. 

All votes counted on election night have been counted a second time, and special votes have been checked for eligibility before being counted. This has been done in the presence of Justices of the Peace and any scrutineers appointed by candidates.  

Comprehensive audit checks have also been completed at the national level to ensure the results are accurate.  

The results are subject to any applications for judicial recounts. 

Details of the official results are available at www.electionresults.govt.nz. 

Overall results – 2023 General Election 

*Includes 16,252 party informal votes and 16,633 disallowed votes.  The results are calculated using the Sainte-Laguë formula. 

Successful candidates (electorate and list)  

The names of the 122 successful candidates (electorate and list) are shown in alphabetical order under their parties in Attachment A. 

Detailed results for each electorate   

Detailed results for each electorate are available from www.electionresults.govt.nz.  

Turnout and special votes  

The turnout of enrolled voters was 78.2%.  Turnout in the Māori electorates was 68% (69.1% in 2020, 66.7% in 2017).  

Special votes cast totalled 603,257, or 20.9% of total votes cast, including 78,030 overseas votes. 

Enrolment  

94.7% of estimated eligible voters were enrolled (94.1% in 2020). 82.9% of 18 to 29-year-olds were enrolled (80.7% in 2020 and 75.5% in 2017).  

567,000 Māori were enrolled on the Māori or general roll – an increase of more than 31,500 on 2020. 

Approximately 110,000 people enrolled or updated their details on election day (80,000 in 2020).  

Declaration and judicial recounts 

The official results were declared by Gazette Notice today. Any applications for a judicial recount must be filed with a District Court no later than Wednesday 8 November 2023. 

Next steps  

If there are no applications for recounts, on Thursday 9 November 2023, the Electoral Commission will return the writ to the Clerk of the House of Representatives, allocate list seats in the presence of party scrutineers and declare by Gazette Notice the election of list members of Parliament.   

If there are applications for judicial recounts, the return of the writ and the election of list members will be delayed until any recounts are complete. 

Further statistics   

Detailed information, including allocation of list seats, voting place information and special vote statistics, is expected to be available, subject to recounts, by Monday 27 November 2023 at www.electionresults.govt.nz.