Turnout: 78.20%
About this election
The 2023 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 14 October 2023 to elect the 54th Parliament. After six years of Labour government, voters delivered a decisive change: the National Party, led by former Air New Zealand chief executive Christopher Luxon, became the largest party and went on to form a three-party coalition with the libertarian ACT party and the populist New Zealand First. Labour, led by Chris Hipkins after Jacinda Ardern's resignation in January, suffered the worst defeat of any sitting government since MMP began, collapsing from its 2020 majority of 65 seats to just 34.
New Zealand elects its House of Representatives by mixed-member proportional representation: a party vote sets each party's proportional share and an electorate vote elects a local MP. In 2023, 72 electorates were contested (65 general, 7 Māori) alongside the party lists. Two overhang seats arose because Te Pāti Māori won six electorates while its party vote entitled it to four, taking Parliament to 122 members; a 123rd seat was added later at the Port Waikato by-election, held after a candidate's death forced that electorate's vote to be deferred. The 5%-or-one-electorate threshold applies, and turnout was 78.2%.
The campaign was dominated by the cost-of-living crisis — high inflation, soaring mortgage rates and rents — together with crime, and the affordability and competence questions that build up against any long-serving government. Hipkins had trimmed back several of Ardern-era policies in an effort to refocus on "bread and butter" issues, but could not overcome the sense that it was time for a change. National promised tax relief and tighter fiscal management; ACT campaigned hard on spending cuts and a contentious proposal to redefine the principles of the Treaty of Waitangi.
National won 38.08% of the party vote and 48 seats, ahead of Labour on 26.92% and 34. The Greens rose to 11.61% and 15 seats and ACT to 8.64% and 11, while New Zealand First returned to Parliament with 6.09% and 8 seats and Te Pāti Māori grew to 3.08% and six electorate seats. Labour and National's combined vote was among the lowest ever recorded under MMP. Because National (48) and ACT (11) together fell just short of a majority, New Zealand First's eight seats were needed, producing the first three-party governing coalition of the MMP era.
National swept back to the lead across most of the country — the provinces, rural areas, Canterbury and much of Auckland — while Labour clung to its strongest urban bases, retaining the party-vote lead in Wellington and the Dunedin-centred Otago region, where the Greens also polled strongly. The map above shows the party that topped the party vote in each region; click any region for the full party-by-party breakdown.
After six weeks of negotiation, Christopher Luxon was sworn in as prime minister on 27 November 2023 at the head of a National–ACT–New Zealand First coalition, with ACT's David Seymour and NZ First's Winston Peters sharing the deputy prime ministership across the term. The new government moved quickly to repeal a series of Labour policies and to implement tax changes, while ACT's Treaty Principles Bill became one of the most contentious issues of the new Parliament.
Electoral Commission of New Zealand — official results at electionresults.govt.nz.
Compiled and reviewed by Bartłomiej Paruzel, Election Data Analyst, from official results. See our data methodology.