National will require the support of both ACT and New Zealand First to form a government, official election results show.
The official results, which were released by the Electoral Commission today at 2pm, come after the final count of all general election votes, including special votes which include those cast overseas.
Once special votes - which have historically tended to skew left - were counted, the National Party had two fewer seats - from 50 to 48.
The Green Party has gained one seat to a new total of 15.
Te Pāti Māori has also seized two further Māori electorate seats - Tāmaki Makaurau and Te Tai Tokerau, which at the last election were won by Labour’s Peeni Henare and Kelvin Davis respectively.
After the counting of special votes, National now needs ACT and NZ First to govern. (Source: 1News)
Te Pāti Māori’s Mariameno Kapa-Kingi took Davis’ seat with a majority of 517 votes, while Takutai Tarsh Kemp has won Tāmaki Makaurau with a majority of just four votes.
Te Pāti Māori’s sweep of six of the seven Māori electorates means it has won more electorate seats than it is entitled to with its 3.06% of the party vote, resulting in an overhang - when the number of seats in parliament increases. The overhang will further increase after the Port Waikato by-election, which is a result of one of its candidates - ACT's Neil Christensen - dying.
The overhang - which after the by-election will be 123 - means the threshold for a majority is higher - but in any case as National and ACT’s combined seats now total 59, New Zealand First’s eight seats will be required to form a government.
The Labour Party saw no changes to its 34 seats from preliminary results, nor did ACT with 11, or New Zealand First with eight.
Preliminary results saw National’s Blair Cameron swipe Nelson from Rachel Boyack, but final results have returned her to the seat with a majority of 29 votes.
Similarly Labour’s Phil Twyford has managed to secure Te Atatū from National’s Angee Nicholas, with a majority of 131 votes. Nicholas had won the seat based on preliminary results.
All other electorate candidates leading on election night preliminary results have been confirmed as winners.
The total number of legitimate votes cast in the election was 2,850,527 with more than 603,000 - nearly 21% - of those special votes.
It was 17% of votes in 2020 and 2017.
Turnout among those enrolled to vote was 78%, down from 82% in 2020 and almost 80% in 2017.
Turnout in Māori electorates was 68%, down from 69% in 2020 but up from almost 67% in 2017.
Of the number of estimated eligible voters, 94.7% were enrolled.
567,000 Māori were enrolled on the Māori or general rolls, an increase of more than 31,500 on 2020 enrolments.
Young people also increased enrolments - almost 83% of 18 to 29 year olds were enrolled at the 2023 general election, compared to almost 81% in 2020 and 75.5% in 2017.
Total votes cast was 2,883,412.
More than a million people gave their party vote to National, while more than 767,000 voted for Labour with their party vote.
The official count has taken three weeks, as allowed under law, something both incoming prime minister Christopher Luxon and ACT leader David Seymour have criticised.
Yesterday Victoria University of Wellington political scientist Bryce Edwards said it was likely there would be some “upsets” with the final results.
SEATS IN THE HOUSE
National - 48 seats
Labour - 34 seats
Green - 15 seats
ACT - 11 seats
NZ First - 8 seats
Te Pāti Māori - 6 seats
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