New Zealand General election 2020 — Results

Setting the scene

The 2020 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 17 October 2020 — delayed by four weeks because of a COVID-19 outbreak in Auckland — to elect the 120 members of the 53rd Parliament. Held against the backdrop of New Zealand's widely praised elimination strategy against the coronavirus, it produced a historic landslide for Labour. Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern led her party to 50.01% of the party vote and 65 seats, the first time any party had won an outright majority since the introduction of mixed-member proportional representation in 1996. It was the best result for Labour in half a century and one of the worst in National's history.

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.

The political context

The campaign was overwhelmingly shaped by COVID-19. New Zealand's hard border closures and strict lockdowns had kept case numbers and deaths extraordinarily low, and Ardern's daily briefings made her one of the most popular prime ministers in the country's history. National, by contrast, was in disarray: it changed leaders twice in 2020, with Judith Collins taking over only months before polling day, and struggled to land an alternative message while the public rallied around the government's crisis management.

How the vote went

Labour won 50.01% and 65 seats; National collapsed to 25.58% and 33 seats, its worst result since 2002. The Greens rose to 7.86% and 10 seats and the free-market ACT party surged from one seat to 7.59% and 10 seats, absorbing much of National's disaffected right. New Zealand First, Labour's outgoing coalition partner, fell to 2.60% and was ejected from Parliament, while the Māori Party returned with two seats after winning an electorate. With an outright majority, Labour could have governed alone — the first party able to do so under MMP.

Geography of the vote

The scale of the win was visible everywhere: Labour topped the party vote in all 16 regions, including normally conservative provincial and rural areas and seats National had held for decades. The map above shows the party that led the party vote in each region — a uniform Labour result that underlines just how broad the 2020 swing was. Click any region for the full breakdown.

What happened next

Despite its majority, Labour chose to bring the Greens into a cooperation agreement, giving two Green co-leaders ministerial portfolios outside Cabinet. Ardern's second term, however, proved far harder than her first: the end of the elimination strategy, vaccine mandates and anti-mandate protests, and a sharp rise in the cost of living eroded the government's standing. Ardern resigned in January 2023, saying she no longer had "enough in the tank", and was succeeded by Chris Hipkins, who led Labour into the 2023 election.

Data source

Electoral Commission of New Zealand — official results at electionresults.govt.nz.

Compiled and reviewed from official results by ElectioMap. See our data methodology.