Next New Zealand general election explained

Election Name:Next New Zealand general election
Country:New Zealand
Type:parliamentary
Ongoing:yes
Previous Election:2023 New Zealand general election
Previous Year:2023
Outgoing Members:54th New Zealand Parliament
Seats For Election:All 120 seats (plus any overhang) in the House of Representatives
61 seats needed for a majority
Election Date:No later than 19 December 2026
Opinion Polls:Opinion polling for the next New Zealand general election
Leader1:Christopher Luxon
Party1:New Zealand National Party
Leader Since1:30 November 2021
Leaders Seat1:Botany
Last Election1:48 seats, 38.06%
Seats Before1:49
Seats Needed1:12
Leader2:Chris Hipkins
Leader Since2:22 January 2023
Party2:New Zealand Labour Party
Leaders Seat2:Remutaka
Last Election2:34 seats, 26.91%
Seats Before2:34
Seats Needed2:27
Leader3:Marama Davidson
Chlöe Swarbrick
Leader Since3:8 April 2018
10 March 2024
Party3:Green Party of Aotearoa New Zealand
Leaders Seat3:List
Auckland Central
Last Election3:15 seats, 11.06%
Seats Before3:14
Seats Needed3:47
Leader4:David Seymour
Leader Since4:4 October 2014
Party4:ACT New Zealand
Leaders Seat4:Epsom
Last Election4:11 seats, 8.64%
Seats Before4:11
Seats Needed4:50
Leader5:Winston Peters
Leader Since5:18 July 1993
Party5:New Zealand First
Leaders Seat5:List
Last Election5:8 seats, 6.08%
Seats Before5:8
Seats Needed5:53
Leader6:Debbie Ngarewa-Packer
Rawiri Waititi
Leader Since6:15 April 2020
28 October 2020
Party6:Te Pāti Māori
Leaders Seat6:Te Tai Hauāuru
Waiariki
Last Election6:6 seats, 3.08%
Seats Before6:6
Seats Needed6:55
Prime Minister
Before Election:Christopher Luxon
Before Party:New Zealand National Party

The next New Zealand general election will be held after the current 54th New Zealand Parliament is dissolved or expires. The current Parliament was elected on Saturday, 14 October 2023. The last possible date for the election to be held is Saturday, 19 December 2026.

Voters will elect 120 members to the House of Representatives under New Zealand's mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system, a proportional representation system in which 72 members are elected from single-member electorates and 48 members are elected from closed party lists.

After the previous election, the centre-right National Party, led by Prime Minister Christopher Luxon, formed a coalition government with the ACT and New Zealand First parties. The main opponent to the National-ACT-NZ First government is the centre-left Labour Party, led by former Prime Minister Chris Hipkins. Other opposition parties include the left-wing Green Party and the indigenous rights-based Te Pāti Māori.

Electoral system

See main article: Electoral system of New Zealand.

New Zealand uses the mixed-member proportional (MMP) voting system to elect the House of Representatives. Each voter gets two votes, one for a political party (the party vote) and one for a local candidate (the electorate vote). Political parties which meet the threshold (5% of the party vote or one electorate seat) receive seats in the House in proportion to the percentage of the party vote they receive. 72 of the 120 seats are filled by the MPs elected from the electorates, with the winner in each electorate determined by the first past the post method (i.e. most votes wins). The remaining 48 seats are filled by candidates from each party's closed party list. If a party wins more electorates than seats it is entitled to under the party vote, an overhang results; in this case, the House will add extra seats to cover the overhang.

The political party or party bloc with the majority of the seats in the House forms the Government. Since the introduction of MMP in 1996, a party has only won an outright majority of seats once, when the Labour Party won 65 out of 120 seats in 2020. As a result, parties typically negotiate with other parties to form a coalition government or a minority government.

Electorate boundaries

Electorate boundaries for the next election are due to be redrawn following the 2023 census and the Electoral (Māori Electoral Option) Legislation Act, which allows Māori to switch between the General Roll and Māori Roll at any time and as often as they like excluding during certain pre-election periods. This means that unless a snap election is called before the boundary review, the next general election will be the first to use boundaries based on the 2023 census.[1] [2]

The number of South Island general electorates is fixed at 16,[3] with the number of North Island general electorates and Māori electorates increasing or decreasing in proportion. For the 2020 and 2023 elections, there were 49 North Island general electorates and seven Māori electorates.

Election date

Unless an early election is called or the election date is set to circumvent holding a by-election, a general election is held every three years. The last election was held on Saturday, 14 October 2023.[4]

The Governor General must issue a writs for an election within seven days of the expiration or dissolution of the current Parliament.[5] Under section 17 of the Constitution Act 1986, Parliament expires three years "from the day fixed for the return of the writs issued for the last preceding general election of members of the House of Representatives, and no longer." The writs for the 2023 election were returned on 9 November 2023. As a result, the 54th Parliament will expire, if not dissolved earlier, on Monday, 9 November 2026. Consequently, the last day for issuance of writs of election is 16 November 2026. The writs must be returned within 50 days of their issuance (save for any judicial recount or death of a candidate), which will be Tuesday, 5 January 2027.[6] Because polling day must be a Saturday[6] and two weeks is generally required for the counting of special votes, the last possible date for the next general election is Saturday, 19 December 2026.

Parties and candidates

Since the 2023 election, three parties have been deregistered: DemocracyNZ on 15 February 2024,[7] Leighton Baker Party on 27 May 2024,[8] and New Zealand Loyal on 26 July 2024.[9]

PartyLeader(s)FoundedIdeology2023 election resultCurrent seats
% party voteseats
1936 Conservatism, liberalism38.08% 48 49
Chris Hipkins1916 Social democracy26.92% 34 34
/ Chlöe Swarbrick1990 Green politics, social democracy11.61% 15 14
1994 Classical liberalism, conservatism8.64% 11 11
1993 Nationalism, social conservatism6.09% 8 8
/ Rawiri Waititi2004 Māori rights, tino rangatiratanga3.08% 6 6
2016 Radical centrism, environmentalism2.22% 0 0
2020 Conservatism0.56% 0 0
/ Michael Appleby1996 Cannabis legalisation0.45% 0 0
2022 0.33% 0 0
Anna Rippon / Robert McNeil 2023 0.17% 0 0
2011 Conservatism, right-wing populism0.15% 0 0
Jill Ovens / Chimene Del La Veras 2023 0.08% 0 0
2022 0.05% 0 0

Opinion polling

See main article: Opinion polling for the next New Zealand general election.

Seat projections

Notes and References

  1. Web site: How are electoral boundaries decided?. Electoral Commission. 7 February 2024.
  2. Web site: New Zealand Election Results. Minstry of Justice. 7 February 2024.
  3. Electoral Act 1993, section 35(3)(a).
  4. Web site: New Zealand Election Results. Electoral Commission. 7 February 2024.
  5. Web site: Electoral Act 1993, Sec. 125 . Legislation.co.nz . 7 February 2024.
  6. Web site: Electoral Act 1993, Sec. 139 . Legislation.co.nz . 7 February 2024.
  7. Web site: DemocracyNZ no longer registered . 16 February 2024 . Electoral Commission.
  8. Web site: Leighton Baker Party no longer registered . 27 May 2024 . Electoral Commission.
  9. Web site: New Zealand Loyal no longer registered . New Zealand Electoral Commission . 29 July 2024.