2020 New Zealand general election

2020 New Zealand general election

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All 120 seats in the House of Representatives
61 seats needed for a majority
Opinion polls
Turnout2,919,073 (82.24%; Increase 2.49 pp)
  First party Second party Third party
 
Rt_Hon_Jacinda_Ardern.jpg
Judith_Collins.png
Aotearoa New Zealand Green Leadership 2020.jpg
Leader Jacinda Ardern Judith Collins James Shaw
Marama Davidson
Party Labour National Green
Leader since 1 August 2017 14 July 2020 30 May 2015
8 April 2018
Leader's seat Mount Albert Papakura List
Last election 46 seats
36.89%
56 seats
44.45%
8 seats
6.27%
Seats before 46 56 8
Seats won 65 33 10
Seat change Increase 19 Decrease 23 Increase 2
Electorate vote 1,357,501
48.07%

Increase 10.19 pp
963,845
34.13%
Decrease 9.92 pp
162,245
5.74%
Decrease 1.17 pp
Party vote 1,443,545
50.01%

Increase 13.12 pp
738,275
25.58%
Decrease 18.87 pp
226,757
7.86%
Increase 1.59 pp

  Fourth party Fifth party Sixth party
 
David Seymour 2023 cropped headshot.jpg
John Tamihere & Debbie Ngarewa-Packer joint photo.png
Winston Peters, 2019.jpg
Leader David Seymour John Tamihere
Debbie Ngarewa-Packer
Winston Peters
Party ACT Māori Party NZ First
Leader since 4 October 2014 15 April 2020 18 July 1993
Leader's seat Epsom Ran in Tāmaki Makaurau (lost)[a]
List
List (lost)
Last election 1 seat
0.50%
0 seats
1.18%
9 seats
7.20%
Seats before 1 0 9
Seats won 10 2 0
Seat change Increase 9 Increase 2 Decrease 9
Electorate vote 97,697
3.46%
Increase 2.45 pp
60,837
2.15%
Increase 0.04 pp
30,209
1.07%
Decrease 4.38 pp
Party vote 219,031
7.59%
Increase 7.08 pp
33,630
1.17%
Decrease 0.01 pp
75,020
2.60%
Decrease 4.60 pp


Prime Minister before election

Jacinda Ardern
Labour

Subsequent Prime Minister

Jacinda Ardern
Labour

The 2020 New Zealand general election was held on Saturday 17 October 2020 to determine the composition of the 53rd New Zealand Parliament.[2][3] Voters elected 120 members to the House of Representatives, 72 from single-member electorates and 48 from closed party lists. Two referendums, one on the personal use of cannabis and one on euthanasia, were also held on the same day.[4][5] Official results of the election and referendums were released on 6 November.[6]

The governing Labour Party, led by incumbent Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, won the election in a landslide victory against the National Party, led by Judith Collins.[7] Labour won 65 seats, enough for a majority government. It is the first time that a party has won enough seats to govern alone since the mixed-member proportional representation (MMP) system was introduced in 1996.[8] Labour also achieved the highest percentage of the party vote (50.0%) since MMP was introduced, winning the plurality of party vote in 71 of the 72 electorates (Epsom being the sole exception). This is also the best nationwide result in the popular vote for a main party since 1951, the most seats any party has won since 1990 and the first time Labour has won an absolute majority of the vote since 1946.[9][10] Ardern subsequently became the most successful New Zealand politician of the MMP era, overtaking John Key by number of seats won under a single premiership. Conversely, this election was the second-worst result for the National Party, which performed poorer only in the 2002 general election.[11]

With the election being highly centred around the government's praised response to the COVID-19 pandemic, it led to the unprecedented flipping of traditionally National-voting seats to Labour, often with very comfortable margins.[12] Examples included the rural seats of Wairarapa, East Coast, Ōtaki and Rangitata, the latter having never previously voted for Labour.[13][14] In another blow to National's heartlands, every city except Auckland and Tauranga gave their seats entirely to Labour. In a surprise victory, the left-wing environmentalist Green Party's Chlöe Swarbrick won the Auckland Central seat vacated by National's retiring Nikki Kaye with a margin of 1,068 votes over Labour's Helen White.[15] The right-wing libertarian ACT Party and the Greens both increased their number of seats due to the collapse of National's support base. The Māori Party, representing the cause of indigenous rights, re-entered Parliament with two seats after Rawiri Waititi won the Waiariki electorate. Populist nationalist party New Zealand First, led by Deputy Prime Minister Winston Peters in coalition with Labour, suffered its worst-ever result, losing all its seats.[16][17]

Ardern moved the Labour Party further to the centre during its campaign, promising to cut spending during the remainder of COVID-19 recession and controversially cancelling the government's promise to make the standard three years of tertiary education tuition-free.[18][19][20] Doing so alienated some left-wing Labour supporters, giving the Green Party a boost in seat numbers and their victory in Auckland Central.[21] While results of opinion polls early in the year were neck-and-neck between the two major parties, Ardern and the Labour Government were praised for their response to the COVID-19 pandemic in New Zealand. Following the Level 4 lockdown in March 2020, polls began to suggest that Labour could either attain a majority government or could govern with confidence-and-supply from the Greens.[22] In contrast, the leadership of the National Party changed twice in less than three months, unable to improve its poor polling results after collapsing in April 2020.[23] Heading a campaign widely perceived as centrist or centre-leaning,[24][25] Labour gained support from a large demographic of moderate swing voters, many of whom had previously voted for National under John Key. Approximately 16% of Labour's voters had voted for National in the previous election.[26][27]

  1. ^ "Māori Party's Rawiri Waititi replaces John Tamihere as co-leader". RNZ. 29 October 2020. Archived from the original on 1 November 2020. Retrieved 7 November 2020.
  2. ^ Deguara, Brittney (17 August 2020). "Live: Jacinda Ardern delays election to October 17 amid coronavirus outbreak". Stuff. Archived from the original on 17 August 2020. Retrieved 17 August 2020.
  3. ^ "Election 2020: Parliament dissolves, setting stage for election campaign". Stuff. 6 September 2020. Archived from the original on 7 September 2020. Retrieved 6 September 2020.
  4. ^ "Euthanasia bill to go to referendum after knife-edge vote in Parliament". The New Zealand Herald. 23 October 2019. Archived from the original on 26 October 2019. Retrieved 26 October 2019.
  5. ^ Cooke, Henry (13 November 2019). "MPs vote in favour of End of Life Choice Bill at final reading". Archived from the original on 13 November 2019. Retrieved 13 November 2019.
  6. ^ "New Zealand Election Results". Electoral Commission. Archived from the original on 13 August 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  7. ^ Roy, Eleanor Ainge; Graham-McLay, Charlotte (17 October 2020). "Jacinda Ardern hails 'very strong mandate' after New Zealand election landslide". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  8. ^ "New Zealand election: Jacinda Ardern's Labour Party scores landslide win". BBC News. 17 October 2020. Archived from the original on 16 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  9. ^ Schwartz, Matthew (17 October 2020). "New Zealand PM Ardern Wins Re-Election In Best Showing For Labour Party In Decades". NPR. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  10. ^ Shaw, Richard; Hayward, Bronwyn; Vowles, Jack; Curtin, Jennifer; MacDonald, Lindsey (17 October 2020). "Jacinda Ardern and Labour returned in a landslide — 5 experts on a historic New Zealand election". The Conversation. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  11. ^ Walls, Jason (18 October 2020). "Election 2020: National's Gerry Brownlee tossing up resignation; backs Collins to stay on as leader". The New Zealand Herald. Archived from the original on 18 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  12. ^ "Ardern set to win in New Zealand's 'COVID election'". Japan Today. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  13. ^ "Rangitata: Electoral Profile – New Zealand Parliament". www.parliament.nz. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  14. ^ 1 News [@1NewsNZ] (17 October 2020). "Wairarapa electorate win a dream come true for Labour MP Kieran McAnulty. By @Beywake https://t.co/g8vvSfta9N https://t.co/zESg8DeaUS" (Tweet). Archived from the original on 17 July 2022. Retrieved 15 January 2023 – via Twitter.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  15. ^ "Media release: 2017 General Election writ returned". Parliament.nz. New Zealand Parliament. 12 October 2017. Archived from the original on 13 September 2020. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  16. ^ "NZ First". Policy. NZ Election 2020. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  17. ^ Charlotte, Graham-McClay (17 October 2020). "Kingmaker no more: Winston Peters consigned to NZ political history". TheGuardian.com. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020.
  18. ^ "Students disappointed Labour Party dropped fees-free plan". RNZ. 16 September 2020. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  19. ^ Cooke, Henry (8 August 2020). "Election 2020: Labour launches an extremely centrist campaign". Stuff. Retrieved 17 July 2022.
  20. ^ Cooke, Mandy Te, Matthew Tso, Laura Wiltshire and Henry (15 September 2020). "University students may reconsider futures after Labour breaks fees-free promise". Stuff. Retrieved 17 July 2022.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  21. ^ "What happens in a general election?". Elections.nz. Electoral Commission. Retrieved 9 September 2020.
  22. ^ "TV3 Poll Results | Reid Research | Independent Field Market Research". 9 March 2019. Archived from the original on 9 March 2019. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  23. ^ "Weakness in National's third line of defence has spread to the front line – will it be able to regain credibility to critique the Government's Covid-19 response?". interest.co.nz. 10 July 2020. Archived from the original on 19 October 2020. Retrieved 18 October 2020.
  24. ^ Cooke, Henry (8 August 2020). "Election 2020: Labour launches an extremely centrist campaign". Stuff. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  25. ^ "The secret of Jacinda Ardern's success lies in her conservatism | Bryce Edwards". the Guardian. 24 December 2020. Retrieved 15 July 2022.
  26. ^ "Election 2020: Labour launches an extremely centrist campaign". Stuff. 8 August 2020. Archived from the original on 17 October 2020. Retrieved 17 October 2020.
  27. ^ Luxon the most politically inexperienced leader in National history, One News, 30 November 2021. Retrieved 15 July 2022.


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