Elections and Party Politics
The first political party was founded in 1891, and its main rival was founded in 1909—from that point until a change of electoral system in 1996, New Zealand had a two-party system in place. Today, New Zealand has a genuinely multi-party system, with eight parties currently represented in Parliament. Neither of the two largest parties have been able to govern without support from other groups since 1996, meaning that coalition government is required.
The two largest, and oldest, parties are the Labour Party (centre-left progressive) and the National Party (centre-right conservative). Other parties currently represented in Parliament are ACT (free market), the Greens (left-wing, environmentalist), the New Zealand First Party (centrist, nationalist), United Future (family values), Māori Party (ethnic) and the Mana Party (socialist, indigenous rights)
| Party | Votes | % of Votes | Seats | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| % | Change | Electorate | List | Total | Change | |||
| National | 1,058,636 | 47.31 | +2.38 | 42 | 17 | 59 | +1 | |
| Labour | 614,937 | 27.48 | -6.50 | 22 | 12 | 34 | -9 | |
| Green | 247,372 | 11.06 | +4.33 | 0 | 14 | 14 | +5 | |
| NZ First | 147,544 | 6.59 | +2.53 | 0 | 8 | 8 | +8 | |
| Māori | 31,982 | 1.43 | -0.96 | 3 | 0 | 3 | -2 | |
| Mana | 24,168 | 1.08 | +1.08 | 1 | 0 | 1 | +1 | |
| ACT | 23,889 | 1.07 | -2.58 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -4 | |
| United Future | 13,443 | 0.60 | -0.27 | 1 | 0 | 1 | ±0 | |
| other parties | 75,493 | 3.37 | -3.17 | 0 | 0 | 0 | -1 | |
| total | 2,237,464 | 100.00 | 70 | 51 | 121 | -1 | ||
| party informal votes | 19,872 | |||||||
| disallowed special votes | 21,263 | |||||||
| disallowed ordinary votes | 390 | |||||||
| total votes cast | 2,278,989 | |||||||
| turnout | 74.21% | |||||||
| total electorate | 3,070,847 | |||||||
The loss of one MP is due to the Progressive Party not contesting the election.
The loss of one seat is due to the reduction of the overhang, with the Maori Party only getting one electorate seat surplus to its party vote this election.
Read more about this topic: Politics Of New Zealand
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