New Zealand General election 2020 — Results
Election day: October 17, 2020
- Labour Party: 50.01%, 65 seats
- National Party: 25.58%, 33 seats
- Green Party: 7.86%, 10 seats
- ACT New Zealand: 7.59%, 10 seats
- New Zealand First: 2.60%, 0 seats
- The Opportunities Party: 1.51%, 0 seats
- Māori Party: 1.17%, 2 seats
- Others: 3.70%, 0 seats
Turnout: 82.24%
About this election
The electoral system
New Zealand uses mixed-member proportional representation (MMP): a party vote determines each party's overall share of the 120 seats, while an electorate vote elects a local MP. In 2020, 72 members were elected from single-member electorates (65 general and 7 Māori) and 48 from party lists. The 5%-or-one-electorate threshold applies. The election was held alongside two referendums — on legalising euthanasia and on legalising recreational cannabis — covered on a separate page. Turnout reached 82.2%, the highest in over two decades, reflecting intense public engagement during the pandemic.
Compiled and reviewed from official results by ElectioMap. See our data methodology.
In numbers
- 24.43 points separated Labour Party from National Party — 705,270 votes.
- Labour Party converted 50.01% of the vote into 65 of 120 seats (54.17%), 4.16 points more than its vote share.
- The top two shared 75.59% of the vote between them, and 4 lists cleared 5%.
- Labour Party moved +13.12 points against the 2017 general election (36.89% → 50.01%).
- Turnout of 82.24% is the highest of the 3 general elections covered here since 2017.
Calculated from the official figures on this page and from the other elections of this type in our archive.
Understanding this election
- Why Official Results Sometimes Take Weeks — the stages between the count and the legal result
- Why Turnout Figures Disagree — why two sources publish different turnout for one election
- D’Hondt vs Sainte-Laguë — how a divisor formula turns vote shares into seats